Why Cooper Flagg Won’t Be The Best Player Of The 2025 NBA Draft (6-25-25)
By: Tyrone Montgomery Jr.
Headline Photo Credit: X/Twitter
When expectations are high in life, many people tend to crumble and fold under pressure. Imagine cooking a really good meal for your loved ones. Perhaps it was a three-course dinner. You may have recreated an amazing version of Gordon Ramsey’s Lobster Risotto as an appetizer. For the main course, you went with a Braised Short Rib topped over Creamy Mashed Potatoes with a Side Caesar Salad. For dessert, you made Banana Foster. It was a meal your family raved about to everyone.
Word got around how good the meal was, and now you’re being asked to make a meal for a friend of the family along with his family who happens to be the owner of a tech company. Pressure is real and pressure burst pipes. That is the feeling for Cooper Flagg. He has been talked about for years now. He even had the opportunity to play alongside many of the best stars in the NBA last summer as Team USA prepared for the Olympics. He has a target on his back now so that makes the situation even worse for Flagg.
The best players of the drafts aren’t always the number one overall picks. Sometimes, fit and opportunity play a big factor too. That is why Dylan Harper comes to mind. That is why he will be the best player of the 2025 NBA Draft. Harper has been around the game of basketball his entire life. His father, Ron Harper, played alongside some of the game’s best players in Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O’Neal. Not only did he play with them, but he also won five championships with them.
This experience gives Harper the advantage of being the best player in the draft. He is a player who always has the ball in his hands too as he is a guard. As Flagg is a wing player, he won’t have that luxury. Ron Harper may have passed along a lot of advice and even game film from Kobe and MJ. He also may have shared with him many of their moves that he found effective from them. No doubt, Dylan Harper has incorporated that into his game as well as skills from James Harden as that is who his game is being compared to.
Flagg battled injuries throughout his final days with the Duke Blue Devils. Being a player of a bigger size offers more chances and risks of injury. The way Flagg plays the game of basketball can take a toll on the body. Dylan Harper tends to play the game at his own pace and in complete control. Additionally, Harper is going into a stable and secure franchise with the San Antonio Spurs. The Dallas Mavericks are an unpredictable franchise after they recently traded superstar Luka Doncic. Cooper Flagg won’t be the best player out of this draft class when it’s said and done, Dylan Harper will be.
