"Generational" is a word in the sports lexicon being thrown around more frequently than ever before. It is most often given to players who have transcended what was previously possible in their specific sports, but it has more recently been given to players who one day may make a similarly large impact.
The mere use of the word has the potential to create great controversy. Take ESPN's Ryan Clark as an example, when a debate on "First Take" over whether Texas quarterback Arch Manning is "generational" led to him declaring that John Elway and Patrick Mahomes were and that Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning were not.
Ever though Cooper Flagg has yet to step onto an NBA court with the Dallas Mavericks, some in the basketball world have already given him the "generational talent" label. Jeff Teague, a former player, believes that shouldn't be the case.
Teague does not consider Flagg to be a 'generational talent' yet
A Sept. 3 episode of the "Club 520 Podcast" included a segment that featured a debate much like the aforementioned "First Take" episode — only this time, Flagg was the focal point of the conversation.
DJ Wells, one of the show's hosts, argued that Flagg should be called a "generational talent."
"A lot of people are questioning him being a generational talent, but I don't think enough people have just seen him play basketball, in general, to question that at this point," Wells said.
Teague made a case for the opposite side of the argument.
"Generational? No. Generational was LeBron [James]," Teague said. "I don't even think we would consider Steph Curry a generational talent when he first came into the league... We thought Zion [Williamson] would be generational. We knew Bron would be."
Despite leaving Flagg outside the "generational talent" club for the time being, Teague gave him plenty of praise and predicted that he will have a strong debut campaign.
"He's a focused kid. He's going to lock in. His mom said he can only get a $200,000 car. I was like, 'Yeah, you got good people around you. You're going to be locked in. You're going to have a great rookie year,'" Teague said. "I think he's going to be a really good player, though. I think, for his career, he averages about 18 [points per game]."
That 12-letter word will almost certainly follow Flagg for the entirety of his professional basketball career. Only when he decides to retire will the sports world truly be able to determine whether he is worthy of that distinction.