Kevin Durant with Texas, Anthony Davis with Kentucky and more - Analyst lists top 5 freshman seasons since 2006

There have been many basketball players over the years, like Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis, who have had tremendous one-and-done college seasons. Cooper Flagg is the most recent player to join that prestigious group. He played one season at Duke before declaring for the draft. He was selected first by the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.

On Wednesday before the draft, ESPN analyst Mike Greenberg listed his top five freshman seasons from one-and-done players since 2006. Before he started the list, he clarified the factors he was taking into account when constructing the list.

"Ok I'm going to give you, with Cooper Flagg set to be the first pick in the draft, the top five best freshman seasons in the one-and-done era," Green said.

"To be clear, Carmelo Anthony is not on this list, nor are any freshman seasons prior to 2006, when they put the rules in place. I also didn't take into account what they did as pros. This is just what they did their freshman season in college."

He then listed his top five freshman seasons since 2006.

Kevin Durant (Texas)
Anthony Davis (Kentucky)
Zion Williamson (Duke)
Michael Beasley (Kansas)
Kevin Love (UCLA)

Kevin Durant has been the most successful one-and-done player since 2006

When looking at Mike Greenerg's list of the five best one-and-done players since 2006, it is hard to argue that anyone has had a better career than Kevin Durant. Since joining the NBA in 2007, Durant has been a 15-time NBA all-star, earning All-NBA First Team Honors six times.

He also won the NBA Championship twice with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018. He was named the NBA Finals MVP both of those years. He has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns.

On June 22, it was reported that he had been traded to the Houston Rockets. However, the trade cannot be formally completed until July 6.

Cooper Flagg will likely be happy if he can have a career that is anywhere similar to Kevin Durant's. Durant is viewed by most NBA experts as one of the greatest players of all time, often ranking within the top 15.

Flagg is just starting his career and it remains to be seen how successful he will be in the NBA. However, based on the track record of previous one-and-done players, he will likely be a good player for a long time.

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by Alexander O'Reilly