Cooper Flagg was considered an elite young talent before he played a minute for Duke, and the freshman’s performance this season has only added to his almost mythic status already.

The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie reported Tuesday that “the intel on Flagg is among the best I’ve ever gotten on a prospect.”

“Flagg is the exact player teams look for at the top of the draft,” Vecenie said. “He might not necessarily be on Victor Wembanyama’s level as a can’t-miss player, but he’s clearly the kind of Tier One prospect every team would love to acquire. His presence is why we’ve already started to see a race for the bottom in the NBA much earlier than normal, with the Brooklyn Nets trading away some of their best players before the calendar turned to 2025 and the Washington Wizards having no fear running out teenagers in their starting lineup all season. Beyond [Rutgers guard Dylan] Harper, I have some questions about how happy a majority of these teams will be to come away with consolation prizes in the class.”

Flagg is averaging 19.2 points on 48.8 percent shooting along with 8.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.2 blocks. In an 86-78 win over Notre Dame on Jan. 11, he dropped 42 points to set an ACC freshman record.

In October, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony spoke to an NBA executive who said they were “going into this year with an open mind about who the No. 1 pick might be.”

That was an understandable position at the time because there are plenty of examples of highly touted high school recruits failing to meet their lofty expectations in college for one reason or another. However, Flagg has exceeded the hype so far in Durham.

Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman had him atop his newest mock draft and wrote the 6’9″ forward continues to “separate at No. 1 on draft boards.”

The Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors and Utah Jazz all have an equal chance (14 percent) of getting the No. 1 pick for now, and all three are enduring brutal seasons. They’ve combined to win 26 games.

For whoever wins the draft lottery, all of the losses will be viewed in retrospect as a necessary sacrifice in order to land a player who could be a franchise cornerstone for a decade or more.