Former NBA champion Tony Allen provided a sting rating for the future draft pick Cooper Flag.
The Dallas Mavericks are celebrating their victory in the NBA Draft Lottery, and they only managed to win a coin toss, beating the odds of just 1.8%.
The Mavericks are planning to take the Cooper Flag, the consensus number one pick, and they will not trade opportunities.
Flag has become the new Mavericks hero, and the fanbase has recently become lonely after superstar player Luka Donsic was traded in the middle of the night.
But how much can the flag get better? Former NBA star Tony Allen hasn’t seen the hype of “generations.”
Former Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies star Tony Allen believes Cooper Flag cannot turn the Dallas Mavericks on his own.
And while he probably doesn’t have to, he already has a high caliber talent with the Mavericks, who are already playing play-in tournaments, Allen thinks it will take four years for the team to see the best of the flag.
In a heated debate that spoke to Chris Vernon’s show on Grind City Media, Allen argued:
Allen lists many players with unique traits and notes that there are no outstanding similarities in the Flag game.
“In the beginning he hyped that he’s coming out of Duke, that’s an extra pressure. He’s fine. I’m not looking at KD, I don’t see it.
“He’s not a knockdown of three types of Klay Thompson. He doesn’t have that kind of shot. I can’t see the athleticism of the Sion Williamson type… I can’t see his handle.
“I say he has a lot to do and you’ll probably see the benefits of this kid in his fourth year.”
In pushing down his point, Allen doubled, saying, “I don’t see it. I don’t hate it either. I don’t see it.
“When KD came from Texas, it was damn, he’s 6’10, he got the handle, he shoots it all and goes into the hole.”
Allen claims that the rise he saw in the Cooper Flag was former Utah jazz player Andrei Ki Lilenko in 1999, who spent 10 years with the Utah Jazz between 2001 and 2011, before the Net and the spell with the Minnesota Timber Wolves.
Kirilenko, known as the AK-47, was a one-off All-Star, but was not a superstar type player who could make the Mavericks’ hopeful flag.
Allen said: “I’m giving him Andrei Kirilenko, a cornerstone piece that you can place in your organization.
When asked whether Cooper Flag would win the 2025-26 Rookie of the Year Award, Allen had a simple answer.
“No. Wherever the fear goes, wherever Jeremiah fears, he is alone.”
Jeremiah’s horror is predicted by ESPN as fifth overall in the 2025 NBA Draft, a pick owned by the Utah Jazz.
In the disappointment of jazz that missed number one, if Allen’s predictions are correct, they may be in a stronger position than they are currently aware of.