Does Cooper Flagg Have Higher Ceiling Than Jayson Tatum?

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg

Does Cooper Flagg Have Higher Ceiling Than Jayson Tatum? originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Cooper Flagg is just a 19-year-old rookie, but he's already one of the best players in basketball. Entering play on Tuesday, the Dallas Mavericks star is averaging 21.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.

It's been a historically good first season for Flagg, who's making a strong case for NBA Rookie of the Year after spending just one season at Duke. The Maine native immediately established himself as one of the faces of the league and looks poised to be a superstar for a long time.

On Tuesday, Colin Cowherd and Nick Wright compared Flagg to Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who also spent just one year with Duke before launching his NBA career.

"I would argue today, I would choose him over Jayson Tatum if I had to make a choice on the two," Cowherd said. "Over the course of a series, Tatum would probably be more consistent... I think Cooper Flagg has a chance to be, outside of Wemby, the best player in the league. I think he's that good."

While Cowherd is taking Flagg over Tatum, Wright thinks that's a bit premature and defended Tatum.

"I do think he is a future superstar... I do not agree with you. I do not think he is going to be better than Jayson Tatum at any point in the next, call it, three seasons," Wright countered. "If we're saying Jayson Tatum at full strength next season, walks into next season one of the seven best players in the sport, Cooper Flagg, in my opinion, does not approach that until probably Year 4."

With the Mavericks tanking this season, Wright said he still needs to see Flagg prove he can lead a winning team and flourish under real pressure like Tatum, an NBA champion, has done.

That said, Wright acknowledged that Flagg has a higher ceiling than Tatum and could be better than him someday.

"Is Cooper Flagg's ceiling higher than Tatum's ceiling, then probably. I don't think Tatum's ever gonna win league MVP, and I think Cooper could," Wright added. "But I don't think anytime soon Cooper Flagg's going to be a consensus top eight player in the league, and I think Tatum, when he's fully recovered from his Achilles, he will be."

While Flagg is on his way to becoming an MVP-caliber player like Tatum, he's not there yet. Many NBA players don't reach their peak until their mid-to-late 20s, so it may take him a few years to reach Tatum's level.

And who knows? Maybe they'll even be teammates someday.

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