Cooper Flagg reflects on basketball world taking notice to his skills

MONTVERDE, Fla. (WABI) - Newport’s Cooper Flagg has earned a lot of praise from basketball fans to pro players, and he’s stuck to his humble approach to the game.

Flagg was at a Maine United tournament in seventh grade when the Slam High School Instagram put him on the map.

“Everybody from the team came running into my room, and it was like this big huge thing. That was really the first time that I started to get posted on social media, start to get a little recognition, and stuff like that,” said Flagg.

Flagg has reached 312,000 Instagram followers with 32 posts.

“I take it as it is and move past it. I don’t really care about it that much or seem to notice it. I turn my Instagram notifications off and just check it when I want to. It’s not really a big part like ‘oh, I need to go check my likes or my follows’ or something like that. It’s something that every once in a while I pick up and scroll through Instagram a little bit,” said Flagg.

He’s also getting recognized as one of the best high school basketball prospects regardless of class.

“To be honest, it is what it is. Honestly, it makes me proud of how my hard work has been paying off and things like that, but it’s just one person’s opinion. Anybody else can think whatever they want. It’s not going to affect me if I wasn’t on the list at all. I’m just going to do what I do all the time. I think that will take me to a good place,” said Flagg.

Cooper recently met LeBron James at Peach Jam and Steph Curry at the all-time three-point leader’s camp.

“Both of them are two of the greatest players of all time. I just take in everything they say and all the basketball knowledge they have,” said Flagg.

Flagg’s next stop is Saturday’s Slam Summer Classic Vol. 5 at Rucker Park in New York City.

“At all these camps, it’s kind of the same players. You make a lot of friends. I’m excited to just go see all my other friends again and just have a good time playing in an all-star game in front of a packed, full house Rucker Park, which is something that’s been a dream of mine since I was young,” said Flagg.

From Newport to New York, the basketball world knows Cooper Flagg.

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