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Myron Medcalf
As a freshman at UCLA nearly 20 years ago, Kevin Love was viewed as a unique talent because of his passing ability and offensive versatility, but the five-time NBA All-Star said there is a new crop of “unicorns” who are more advanced than players of his generation at this stage.
“Now, you’re getting these guys that are 6-8 plus, 6-10, 7 feet tall, that are just really doing everything out there on the floor,” Love told ESPN on Wednesday. “And I think it’s just incredibly hard to guard and it’s taking the game to a really amazing place as well, because you’re seeing these guys that are unicorns out there, guys that are really doing everything and refining their skills, whereas in the past they might not have worked on these things.
“The growth within the game, it’s really amazing to see where it has gone, especially in the skill and player development at an even earlier age.”
Love pointed to Duke‘s Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, and Cam Boozer, the five-star recruit who will follow Flagg as the staple of Jon Scheyer’s next recruiting class with the Blue Devils, as examples.
Love, who surprised Boozer with his second Gatorade National Player of the Year award this week, said the two young stars — and other players like them — will enter the next stage of their careers with a skill set that was once foreign to players at their positions.
“I mean, he’ll grab the ball off the backboard, take it all the way down and, if somebody doesn’t stop him from putting it in the rim, he’ll pull up, he’ll get to that next situation,” Love said of Boozer. “He’ll work from the midpost. He’s handling the ball. He’s passing the ball and getting his teammates involved.
“It has really become, like I said, positionless basketball, and guys are able to really do everything out there on the floor. You just didn’t see that when I first came into the league.”
Flagg will pursue his shot at history as 1-seed Duke plays 4-seed Arizona in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night. Only three freshmen in college basketball history — Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson — have won the Wooden Award. Only five freshmen have been named Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA tournament.
Flagg’s eventual departure to the NBA will set the stage for Scheyer’s top-ranked recruiting class, which will be anchored by Boozer and his twin, Cayden Boozer (No. 16 in the 2025 ESPN 100). Like Flagg, Boozer is a multidimensional 6-foot-9 standout who is capable of impacting the game in different ways.
“What Duke has done with players in my position over the last couple of years,” Boozer told ESPN before rattling off the names of Paolo Banchero, Zion Williamson, Jayson Tatum and Brandon Ingram. “Those are four guys who are all stars and some would say superstars or future superstars.
“I think, just the overall Duke culture in general, what they do with winning and making deep tournament runs — that’s something that I’m able to do here [in high school]. So I think going to the next level, continuing that and also developing into the player I want to be at the next level, where [Love] is at right now — I think that was a huge part of the decision for me.”
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