Cooper Flagg Is Better Than Young LeBron James (In 1 Category, At Least)

Cooper Flagg turns 20 in December and he is already drawing comparisons that most players spend entire careers failing to earn.

The latest came after Monday’s 113-109 win in Miami, where Flagg recorded 29 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, five steals and three blocks, with most of the damage coming in the fourth quarter.

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The conversation on “The Hoop Collective” started with one sequence in particular. Flagg closed out on Andrew Wiggins and blocked his 3-point attempt before pushing the other way and finishing at the rim. That play got Brian Windhorst into territory ESPN analysts generally avoid, comparing a teenager to LeBron James at the same age.

Windhorst started by conceding the obvious.

“I’m telling you, he’s not the offensive talent that LeBron was as a 19-year-old,” Windhorst said. “LeBron’s ability to impose his physical talents on the offensive end from age 18 was more impressive and therefore he put up huge numbers and was just physically dominant.”

That is the correct starting point and Windhorst has more standing to make it than almost anyone. He began covering James as a reporter in Akron while James was still at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and has followed him his entire career. James entered the league at 240 pounds with a grown man’s frame and bulldozed defenders from his first week. 

Then Windhorst listed where Flagg comes out ahead.

“Cooper Flagg’s a better defender than LeBron at 19,” he said. “Cooper Flagg has got a better fundamental jump shot at 19. Cooper Flagg is more positionally versatile defensively at age 19. There’s a lot of check marks on that slider that are Cooper Flagg.”

He knew how that sounded, adding one more line to acknowledge it.

“You know, LeBron James comps at the same age, I’m sorry, I just can’t help myself,” Windhorst said.

Each of those claims holds up on examination, starting with the defense. Flagg guards multiple positions, jumps passing lanes and functions as a help defender at the rim. James was a capable defender as a rookie but developed into an elite one later in his career, while Flagg is already showing defensive versatility at 19.

The jump shot comparison is less about percentages than mechanics. Flagg shot 29.5 percent from 3-point range as a rookie, close to James’ 29 percent mark in his first NBA season. The difference is in the form. James spent years refining his jumper through repetition, while Flagg entered the league with a repeatable stroke that needs more experience.

Positional versatility follows from the first point. Flagg has already shown he can defend guards, wings and bigger players, giving Dallas options across different matchups. James developed into a similarly versatile defender later in his career, but Windhorst believes Flagg is ahead of him at the same age.

The offensive gap Windhorst described also looks narrower than it did a year ago, as Flagg has made an early leap in his second season. He is averaging 25.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists while shooting 56.5 percent from the field through three games, up from 21.0 points per game as a rookie. Through his first three games of the 2004-05 season, James averaged 26.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists while shooting 41.0 percent from the field. He had averaged 20.9 points per game in his rookie year.

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Flagg’s numbers could be better, too. He was on pace for a big night at Indiana, recording 14 points, five rebounds and six assists in 17 minutes while shooting 100 percent from 3-point range and the free-throw line before the shoulder injury ended his night in the second quarter. He then missed the home opener against San Antonio.

None of this means Flagg will become LeBron James. The offensive ceiling James reached was in its own category and he entered the MVP conversation within three years of joining the league.

The point was narrower and more interesting than that. If you break both players into component parts at the same age, Flagg comes out ahead in several categories. That is not something anyone expected to be true.