Duke University basketball star Cooper Flagg recently officially announced via social media that he will be entering the 2025 NBA Draft. The Duke men’s basketball team also sent a message to the standout player: “Next stop NBA! You will always be a Duke Blue Devil! Thanks for all the great moments, Flagg!”
It was rumored earlier that Flagg might not enter this year’s draft, but many who know him believe that he definitely will. That’s understandable, since he’s pretty much the favorite to be the top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Why risk playing another year of college basketball when you already have such a good chance of being a first-round pick? After all, playing another year could not only lead to injuries, but could also hurt his draft stock.
Some fans who think he’ll withdraw from the draft do so for one reason: they think Flagg might not want to join a team at the bottom of the league like the Wizards, Jazz or Hornets. But the problem is that even if he waits another year, some of the teams with the worst records in the NBA will probably still be those teams, and the draft position won’t change much. So either way you look at it, entering the draft this year is the best option.
We can also look at some of the teams that currently have the highest probability of having the top pick: the Jazz, Wizards, and Hornets all have 14%; the Pelicans have 12.5%; the 76ers have 10.5%; the Bucks have 9%; the Raptors have 7.5%; the Spurs have 6%; the Sun have 3.8%; and the Trail Blazers have 3.7%. While these teams have poor records, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll get the first pick. Just like in 2024, the Hawks had only a 3% chance and managed to end up with the first pick.The 2025 Draft Lottery is the morning of May 13th BST and we’ll find out who will have that valuable first pick.
Flagg had a great 2024-2025 season with many awards. He received the following awards: – National College Player of the Year Award.
- Naismith Award (college player of the year).
- John Wooden Award (College Player of the Year).
- Julius Irving Award (Best Small Forward).
- Oscar Robertson Award.
- First Team All-America selection (unanimous vote of all judges).
- ACC Conference Player of the Year.
- ACC Conference Rookie of the Year.
With the exception of the NCAA National Championship and Most Valuable Player honors, Flagg won just about every award he could. In the NCAA semifinals, Duke lost to Houston 67-70 and did not advance to the finals. In that game, Flagg shined with 27 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Unfortunately, in the final 20 seconds of the game, he was called for a foul while grabbing a rebound and then missed a key shot that prevented his team from making a comeback.
Speaking of his physical attributes and stats: Born on December 21, 2006, Flagg stands at 2’06” with an arm span between 2’11” and 2’13”. During his collegiate career, he played in 37 games, averaging 30.6 minutes per game and contributing 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.1 turnovers. He shot 48.1 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from three and 84 percent from the free throw line.
He is very versatile on both offense and defense and has ideal size for a forward. He also has excellent jumping ability and, according to media reports, has an assisted jump of about 110 centimeters. Duke’s defensive efficiency this season was its best since the 2009-2010 season, and that had a lot to do with Flagg’s efforts.
NBA draft experts and websites are also giving Flagg a lot of comparisons right now, such as Leonard, Tatum, Pippen, Odom and Kirilenko. The general consensus is that he has very good athleticism, a positive attitude on defense, and some organizational ability to play a role in stringing the whole team together on offense. However, he still has some room for improvement in the dribbling department, especially when it comes to breaking on his own or controlling the ball.
Overall, Flagg is one of the most highly touted players in the 2025 NBA Draft. Not only is he incredibly talented, but he also showed an extremely high level of game IQ and skill in college. As long as he stays healthy, he has a chance to be an All-Star caliber player in the NBA in the future.
Now the question is: Which team will draw the first pick and be lucky enough to select Flagg? Let’s all take a guess!
