As expected, the Mavericks have selected Duke forward Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2025 NBA draft.
The consensus top prospect is coming off a wildly successful freshman season with the Blue Devils, having won numerous major awards, including ACC Player of the Year and AP Player of the Year, among several others.
Flagg was the driving force behind Duke’s 35-4 record and helped the team reach the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Houston, another No. 1 seed.
The 18-year-old combo forward stuffed the stat sheet all season, leading the stacked Blue Devils in points (19.2), rebounds (7.5), assists (4.2), steals (1.4) and blocks (1.4) per game, with a strong shooting line of .481/.385/.840. Flagg made 37 appearances in 2024/25, averaging 30.7 minutes per contest.
Dallas had just a 1.8% chance of claiming this year’s top pick, jumping up from No. 11 to No. 1 when the team won the draft lottery last month. It was the first time in 17 lottery appearances that the Mavericks ended up with a better pick than their odds dictated.
In addition to being viewed as the best prospect in his class, Flagg is also (at least) a year younger than many of his peers, having reclassified from 2026 — he won’t turn 19 until December 21.
The former Blue Devil star will join a Mavericks roster headlined by 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis and nine-time All-Star Kyrie Irving, who reached an agreement earlier this week on a new three-year contract to remain in Dallas.
For some reason he reminds me of a guy named Bryce Harper but for basketball. Only 18 and have the ability to put out HOF numbers. Don’t get hurt kid
Cooper Flagg is a young Superstar in the making. Great pick and got a lot of Scottie Pippen to his game.
Luka is still better…
Mavericks will never have a Luka caliber player again…
That has nothing to do with Flagg getting drafted, but go off.
Luka is NOT better than Flagg. He might be a slight better at scoring but I’ll take Flagg and his defense over Luka and his non-defense
Perhaps Cooper should play an NBA game before we make an assessment.
Who ???