NBA Rumors: ‘More Than 1’ Scout Selected Dylan Harper Over Cooper Flagg in Draft Big Board | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

It may not be a given that Duke’s Cooper Flagg will be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reported Thursday that “more than one NBA scout” has Rutgers guard Dylan Harper as the No. 1 player on their list of prospects ahead of the 2024-25 college basketball season.

Harper is the son of former NBA player Ron Harper.

This comes after Givony reported Wednesday that an NBA executive is “open about who the No. 1 pick could be,” assuming it will be Flagg.

“This is how mistakes are made: settling on one opinion and then closing ourselves off to new, much more important information that we will receive in the coming months as we see how the season goes,” the general manager said.

“I need to see if Cooper Flagg is actually a No. 1-type offensive option that you can expect to lead a team at some point in his career, or if he’s more of a superstar role player better suited to being your secondary is-“ or third best player. Every year there are surprises, new players emerge and others make an unexpected leap.

If the draft were to take place in the near future, it would still be a surprise if anyone other than Flagg went No. 1 overall.

But there’s still a full college basketball season ahead, and both Flagg and Harper are newcomers to their respective programs. They will have plenty of opportunities to prove they are capable of anchoring an NBA team by living up to the hype that already surrounds them.

According to the 247Sports composite rankings, Flagg was the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2024, while Harper was the No. 3 prospect.

The latter is already a well-known name in NBA circles, as his father won five championships for the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers during his playing days. However, the former was the only college player selected to USA Basketball’s Select Team and helped the Olympic team prepare for the 2024 Games.

And he made quite an impression on this occasion:

While Flagg is still the widely accepted top choice – and has held that spot as of late Mock draft by Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman – It seems like some around the league are open-minded and willing to let the process play out.