Cooper Flagg Reacts to Viral 2024 Team USA Scrimmage Video, 'I Was Shell-Shocked'
Cooper Flagg made headlines in the summer of 2024 after a video appeared of him excelling in a scrimmage against Team USA in its run-up to a gold medal performance at the Summer Olympics.
This week, Flagg was asked about that video during an appearance on The Young Man and the Three podcast. Essentially, he said he felt people "took it out of proportion."
"I think a lot of people took it out of proportion, too. I mean, those dudes were probably going 50 percent, maybe 75 percent speed. I mean, they were just kind of getting into the flow of getting back into playing again. I think a lot of them had been in the offseason and then kind of came back to playing, so from the outside looking in, it looked different. I mean, I made a couple shots. I got a couple blocks, it wasn't anything crazy.
"But, I mean, I was shell-shocked, for sure. Like, I think, like, the select team, we were kind of down in the lower gym. We would have to shoot around, warm up down there. And then they would walk us up to the top gym where the USA team was at, and then they would let us play against them and, like, I'm not gonna lie, the first time I walked in there, I was definitely a little shellshocked 'cause I hadn't played against any NBA players before, like, kind of been around any of them, so, it was definitely a little shell-shock."
Since that scrimmage, Flagg has been nothing short of sensational. He won consensus player of the year honors with Duke in 2024-25 and is in strong contention for Rookie of the Year honors with the Dallas Mavericks this season.
Flagg is averaging 20.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game this year, and he just scored a career-high 51 points against the Orlando Magic on Friday.
Ultimately, that scrimmage was a sign of great future success for Flagg, who will look to end his rookie season strong in his team's final five regular season games, beginning Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
