ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla compares Cooper Flagg to Travis Hunter

There have been plenty of interesting comparisons for soon-to-be NBA star Cooper Flagg. But a football comparison? That’s exactly what ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla had in mind for the 6-foot-9 Duke big man. And not just any football player, either.

Fraschilla compared Flagg to Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, who recently won the 2025 Heisman Trophy. He explained the comparison in a tweet.

“Studying [Duke’s] Cooper Flagg this morning for NBA Draft & he’s even better than I thought,” Fraschilla wrote on Twitter. “(Saw him live 3 times) He reminds me of [Colorado’s] Travis Hunter in that he is elite on both sides of ball. Ball skills for size are elite. And, he shot 44% from 3 in last 27 games. Very few weaknesses. VERY FEW.”

There is perhaps one difference. While Hunter showed he could be clutch in key moments, Flagg left some with doubts about that area of his game. In the fall, Hunter helped force a fumble in overtime against Baylor that preserved the win. It was a singular play that clearly impacted the final outcome of the game.

Flagg didn’t necessarily have that kind of result. In fact, he missed the final shot in a Final Four game against Houston, prompting some questions about his ability to come through in the clutch from various ESPN analysts.

“I want to bring this one point up about Cooper Flagg, who I believe is a generational talent,” First Take host Stephen A. Smith said. “But I feel obligated to bring this up. He missed that shot in the lane against (J’Wan) Roberts. The ball was in his hands. (Jon) Scheyer, what does he do? He said, ‘Give Cooper Flagg the rock and move the hell out of the way.’

“He’s done that three other times this year. It was against Kentucky, it was against Kansas, it was against Clemson — [Flagg] came up short each time. We have to remember that while we celebrate Flagg and his greatness, there were four different occasions this year when he was asked to close and he didn’t.”

Can that develop in time? You’d certainly expect it would.

In any case, there’s a whole lot of other things to love about what Cooper Flagg brings to the table. As Fraschilla pointed out, he’s incredibly well-rounded as a player. ESPN’s latest NBA Mock Draft has Flagg going No. 1 overall in this year’s NBA Draft. They have the Utah Jazz penciled in to take the Duke star.