Is Kendrick Perkins right about Cooper Flagg?
Half right. Flagg has played like a top-10 player, but on floaters and midrange jumpers he made two of every three in his first five games, after 44% as a rookie. On Monday he went 2 of 11.
Flagg's floaters and midrange shots are falling far above league rates
| Zone | FG | Pct | League |
|---|---|---|---|
| At the rim | 13/21 | 61.9% | 66.1% |
| Floaters | 17/28 | 60.7% | 44.0% |
| Midrange | 15/28 | 53.6% | 39.6% |
| Corner 3s | 3/4 | 75.0% | 36.3% |
| Other 3s | 4/26 | 15.4% | 34.3% |
We're talking about today: Cooper Flagg is a top 10 player in the NBA. We cannot name 10 players that's better than Cooper Flagg. He's one of the best all-around players that we have in this game.
Kendrick Perkins made his case on ESPN's SportsCenter after Flagg scored 33 in Dallas's 116-111 win over Houston on Friday, Oct. 30. His point was not what Flagg could become, but where he ranks right now.
On the box score, Perkins is right: Flagg ranks 9th in the league. The catch is how: he's making floaters and midrange jumpers at a rate he never came near as a rookie, and his three has gone backward. It's six games, so this is an early read.
On the stat sheet, Flagg is already top 10
Start with today: Flagg is filling every column of the box score, averaging 25.2 points, 6.5 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 2.5 steals. Game score, a stat that rolls a player's whole box score into one number, ranks him 9th in the league, ahead of Nikola Jokić. The part Perkins found most impressive, Flagg creating for others as a point forward, holds up: he averaged 4.5 assists as a rookie.
Flagg's all-around box score ranks 9th, ahead of Jokić
Luka Dončić
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Stephen Curry
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Alperen Sengun
Jamal Murray
Ty Jerome
Victor Wembanyama
Cooper FlaggNikola Jokić
Jayson Tatum
Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderIn September, ESPN's NBA Rank put Flagg 23rd, and Zach Kram wrote that he "must improve his jump shot." By Monday, Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo Sports was writing that Flagg has "clearly been one of the league's five-to-10 best players," and NBA.com's The Association took up the same question.
Perkins has company: ESPN's Tim MacMahon said on the Hoop Collective with Brian Windhorst, "Cooper Flagg I believe right now is a top-10 player," as SB Nation transcribed it.
Flagg's leap is in-between shots he never used to make
At the rim, Flagg is the same finisher he was as a rookie. The difference is everything in between: floaters and short paint jumpers at 61% (47% as a rookie) and midrange jumpers at 54% (38%), where the league makes 44% and 40%.
It isn't a late-rookie hot streak carrying over: over his last 26 games last season, he made only 34% from midrange. O'Connor flagged his 76% on midrange pull-ups as "obviously unsustainable." With his rookie touch on these 56 shots, Flagg would have about 8 fewer baskets, nearly 3 points a game.
Flagg's in-between shots took off while his threes sank
The shots went cold the first night after Perkins spoke
Flagg had made 30 of 45 floaters and midrange shots through five games, but in Monday's 115-100 loss to Sacramento he made 2 of 11 and went 3 of 19. Mike Curtis of the Dallas Morning News wrote that on Monday "Sacramento's defensive pressure made it difficult for Flagg to find any sliver of comfort."
Flagg made two-thirds of his in-between shots, then 2 of 11
Kyrie Irving rested on the first night of five games in seven days, so the Kings could load up on Flagg. The three is the longer worry: Perkins praised Flagg's threes off the dribble, but he's 2 of 12 on pull-up threes after making 32% as a rookie.
Flagg is top 10 today, but the shooting has to hold
The plus-minus case is thinner: Dallas is 25 points per 48 minutes better with Flagg on the floor (8th in the league), but he was +34 in 17 minutes at Indiana alone. In his other five games he's +8 in 184 minutes. Dallas is 4-3 and breaking even on points, and our hot-starts check had its opponents making under 30% of their threes through six games.
Our read: Perkins is half right. Give Flagg his rookie make rates on every shot, threes included, and he falls from 9th to roughly 13th, a hair ahead of Cade Cunningham (a rough estimate, since it adjusts only Flagg). He stays top 10 only if the in-between shots keep dropping.
The next test is Wednesday at San Antonio, the team he sat out against after a hard foul at Indiana knocked him out. Our NBA predictions have the full slate.
Six games and 107 shots is a small sample. Two or three makes either way moves each percentage by several points.
Questions people ask
Is Cooper Flagg a top 10 player in the NBA?
By this season's box score, yes: he ranks 9th in game score, a one-number box-score rating, through six games. At his rookie make rates he'd rank roughly 13th.
What did Kendrick Perkins say about Cooper Flagg?
On ESPN's SportsCenter on Oct. 30, Perkins said: "We're talking about today: Cooper Flagg is a top 10 player in the NBA. We cannot name 10 players that's better than Cooper Flagg."
Why is Cooper Flagg scoring more this season?
Mostly in-between shots: 61% on floaters and paint jumpers and 54% from midrange, up from 47% and 38% as a rookie.
How is Cooper Flagg shooting from three this season?
Poorly: 7 of 30, and 2 of 12 on pull-up threes, after about 29% from three as a rookie.
How we did this
Snapp's NBA warehouse: NBA.com shot locations and zones, player box scores and team possessions, regular-season games through Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. Flagg played six of Dallas's seven games. 'Floaters and paint jumpers' is NBA.com's In The Paint (Non-RA) zone; 'midrange' is its Mid-Range zone. Rookie rates are his 2025-26 regular season. Game score is John Hollinger's box-score formula, ranked among players with 150+ minutes. On/off is Dallas's margin per 48 minutes with Flagg on the floor minus off.