Shams Charania said that this off-season is about to be the biggest ever. This isn’t just due to the playoffs playing out like they have. Regardless of the victor, we also have the latest generational talent entering the scene. And you can bet your mortgage that all 30 teams will be running around for Cooper Flagg’s signature like it’s their last day on Earth. For Cooper, it’ll be about sending a message to the league. And that starts with aiming for the crown; going toe-to-toe against LeBron James.

You know what they say- if you aim for the King, you better not miss. And who better to give it a shot than Flagg, right? Everyone’s dying to see what the boy wonder has in store for us. If he’s anything like the expectations, then best believe that we’re in for the next GOAT of the sport. But Flagg himself just can’t wait to face the King. Because in a league like the NBA, it’s go big or go home.

“Somebody that obviously [I wanna play against] I think [is] LeBron. I think that would just be cool to be able to play against him. Obviously, I think his time is kind of coming to an end soon in the next couple of years or whatever. So I think just being able to play against him would be kind of a surreal feeling and just knowing that what he’s been able to do for the game and being able to accomplish is just insane. So I think it would be cool to play against him,” said Flagg to The Deep 3.

Bron‘s already told us that he’s not retiring anytime soon. But of course, the day beckons when we won’t see our glorious king step foot on the court ever again. Cooper Flagg has until then to seize his chances. Will it be in a box-office Lakers vs. Mavericks game? This surely adds another dimension to the whole “Luka against his former team” storyline.

We’re already in June, and there’s no update on James’ contract extension at the LakeShow. So it might be the King in a different outfit than the purple and gold. Mavs winning the no. 1 pick in the draft lottery puts them in pole position to sign the Duke graduate too. But people seem to think that the stars aligning for Nico Harrison after that dreaded Doncic trade seems too good to be true. We can’t really discount anything for sure, but for some analysts like Jay Bilas, those accusations are hearsay at best.

The Cooper Flagg dream for Nico Harrison is legit, regardless of how improbable

Dallasites wanted his head on a stick. How dare he sell their golden boy, that too when they had no other shot of reaching the playoffs again? The only way he’d redeem himself was to get the No. 1 pick in the draft. It didn’t seem possible when they were revealed to only have a 1.8% chance. But they still did have that chance. And they won.

Yet people claim that this was Harrison’s way of changing fate by controlling it. For Bilas however, these accusations are “laughable” at best, and deserve to be swept under the rug for their ridiculous nature.

“The number of people that would have to be involved in a conspiracy that vast would dictate that it couldn’t be pulled off. But there’s no way… I don’t even know which accounting firm does it, but you’ve got professionals that are involved that are independent, and I just find that laughable without one shred of evidence other than something that we thought would happen, didn’t happen, but still had a chance of happening. It’s just it’s mind-boggling how ridiculous these theories are,” said Bilas.

Life just gives you that luck sometimes. But that doesn’t call for baseless arguments that there’s fixing going on. Especially in a system that works independently from the NBA. For Bilas, the lottery system is perfect and exciting. “I think it works pretty well the way it is. It certainly gives you an exciting night and time period, and it gives you a discussion about the draft well before the draft gets there.”

Nico will be banking on getting Cooper Flagg to make himself the new hero in Dallas. But knowing him, even expecting the obvious is out of question. Regardless though, Flagg will be coming into the NBA and will seemingly straight away aim for the throne. Grab your popcorn – Flagg vs LeBron James in 2025-26 might just be a movie.