Long before Cooper and Ace Flagg were getting national attention for their basketball abilities, the brothers from Newport were battling it out in the family driveway.
They’ve since taken their games to much larger courts, as Cooper Flagg launches his NBA career with the Dallas Mavericks and Ace Flagg begins his first year at the University of Maine.
They’ve been both competitors and teammates over the years, and the 18-year-old twin brothers from Newport surely know each other’s basketball abilities as well as anyone.
So as the Flaggs helped young Maine players keep developing their basketball skills during a youth camp at the University of Maine this weekend, the Bangor Daily News asked each of them to describe what the other does best on the basketball court.
“I’d say the best part is probably his footwork,” Cooper said about Ace’s game. “He’s always had pretty good, natural footwork just getting to his spots in the paint, and you know, finding angles.”
Ace didn’t hesitate to highlight Cooper’s ability as a two-way player.
“I was going to say, his ability to play on both sides of the ball,” Ace said Saturday about the best part of Cooper’s game. “Elite offense and defense.”
There are plenty of receipts to back up each of their answers.
Cooper Flagg showed flashes of those two-way abilities right off the bat in NBA Summer League in July. His defense and transition passing made the difference down the stretch for the Mavericks in their Summer League opener, and he turned around to drop 31 points in his second outing. He led the Duke Blue Devils in all five major statistical categories — averaging the most points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks on one of the best teams in the country — during his one and only season of college basketball.
Ace Flagg’s footwork helped him and his Greensboro Day School teammates win a state championship in North Carolina last season. Longtime Greensboro Day coach Freddy Johnson, who has now won 13 titles, cited his footwork as part of a versatile package that made him a leader on that most recent championship team.
That title run gave Ace Flagg a high school state championship in three different states, a feat that may be unprecedented. He won the first two of those high school titles in Maine and Florida alongside his twin brother, and now he and his Black Bear teammates will be on the hunt for a first-ever conference championship for the UMaine men’s basketball team.
