In his one and solely season with the Duke Blue Devils, Cooper Flagg confirmed why he’s going to be the subsequent large NBA celebrity.
With the 2025 NBA Draft simply days away, followers are eagerly awaiting the formality of the Dallas Mavericks drafting Flagg with the primary general decide.
Flagg is the standout prospect on this 12 months’s class, leagues above each small ahead within the draft. He’s projected to go first general in NBA Evaluation Community’s mock draft.
The New England native had a powerful 12 months with the Duke Blue Devils, main them to the Last 4 of the NCAA Males’s Championship event.
Even in comparison with fellow Duke standouts of the previous like Paolo Banchero, he’s a lower above. And the indicators of his greatness had been obvious fairly early in his run with the Blue Devils.
Actually, a couple of months in the past, Flagg established himself as the subsequent nice NBA celebrity by breaking a long-standing NCAA report.
In January of this 12 months, Cooper Flagg made historical past. Throughout a recreation between the Duke Blue Devils and the Notre Dame Preventing Irish, he scored 42 factors.
This was the best factors whole for a freshman within the Atlantic Coast Convention (ACC) in nearly 20 years. He broke the earlier report of 40 factors, set by former Duke and NBA star JJ Redick, who’s now the top coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
This was the height of what was an excellent 12 months for Flagg. After their loss to Houston within the NCAA event, Flagg earned extra honors, too.
He grew to become the fourth participant in historical past to win the ACC Males’s Rookie of the Yr and Males’s Basketball Participant of the Yr. Flagg joined fellow Duke alumni Zion Williamson, Marvin Bagley III, and Jahlil Okafor as the one gamers to realize this.
Even earlier than he arrived at Duke, Cooper Flagg was thought of the subsequent nice American prospect. At 17 years of age, Flagg was invited to be part of Workforce USA’s coaching camp forward of the 2024 Olympics final summer season.
There, he received to rub shoulders with future teammate Anthony Davis, together with NBA legends like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant. Regardless of telling ESPN he was nervous to face the greats, Flagg confirmed he belonged among the many finest gamers on the planet.
“The primary day, for positive, I used to be nervous. I didn’t know what to suppose. I received on the courtroom, and I used to be like, ‘Wow.’ I used to be guarding LeBron within the nook. It type of simply hit me for a second, and I needed to snap out of it.”
The Mavericks will belief Anthony Davis to assist mentor Flagg subsequent season. However he should do much more than that if Flagg is to be a hit from day one.
Former Mavericks star Derek Harper claimed Davis and Kyrie Irving should be wholesome for Flagg to get off the bottom subsequent 12 months.
Irving, a fellow Duke star who went first general, has excessive expectations of Flagg. However he can even do every little thing in his energy to assist the younger star.
However there is just one one that can decide Flagg’s success within the NBA, and that’s Cooper Flagg himself. If he enters the league with the precise perspective and dedication, then the sky is the restrict for him.
