Cooper Flagg hasn’t even stepped onto an NBA court, yet his presence is reverberating across the league. After a remarkable college season and a dominant debut weekend in the NCAA tournament, the 18-year-old phenom is sending shockwaves through NBA front offices — and raising serious questions about the league’s competitive integrity.
In Friday’s NCAA tournament opener against Mount St. Mary’s, Flagg took the floor despite an ankle injury that had sidelined him for most of the ACC tournament. His performance, however, didn’t miss a beat. Scouts and executives flocked to see the 6-foot-9 Duke forward — widely regarded as the consensus No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft — showcase the kind of two-way dominance that has made him the top name on every draft board.
As Tom Haberstroh of Yahoo Sports reports, NBA teams are already scrambling. The buzz around Flagg has only intensified longstanding issues in the league — most notably, tanking. Multiple franchises are now under investigation for allegedly sitting healthy stars in a bid to improve their draft lottery odds, a practice that NBA commissioner Adam Silver has been trying to curb for years.
Just last week, the Utah Jazz were fined $100,000 for breaching the NBA’s Player Participation Policy after holding out 2023 All-Star Lauri Markkanen in a matchup against the struggling Washington Wizards. League officials determined Markkanen was medically fit to play, raising red flags about Utah’s intentions.
The Philadelphia 76ers have also reportedly drawn the league’s attention, with an investigation launched into their decision to rest key players — Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George — as they hold a top-6 protected pick in the 2025 Draft. The implication: another team potentially prioritizing long-term positioning over short-term competition.
More concerning to league insiders, however, are the subtler forms of tanking now appearing throughout the NBA. These include lineup manipulation, dubious injury reports, and “load management” tactics that, while harder to police, contribute to a troubling environment. As Haberstroh notes, these practices, though sometimes tolerated, are creating a climate that many staffers believe could spiral into a full-blown crisis.
In many ways, the Cooper Flagg phenomenon is both a beacon of future greatness and a mirror reflecting a present problem. As teams scramble for a shot at a generational talent, the NBA finds itself in a familiar — and increasingly precarious — position: balancing the integrity of its competition with the allure of its next big star.
