Kon Knueppel on the drive of former Duke teammate Cooper Flagg
Kon Knueppel chats with Bryan Kalbrosky ahead of the NBA Draft about his former teammate Cooper Flagg and what makes him special
Sports Seriously
NEW YORK — Cooper Flagg isn’t tipping his hand.
The former Duke standout and presumptive No. 1 selection in the 2025 NBA Draft stressed the Dallas Mavericks have not told him he will be selected with the first pick.
“I haven’t had that conversation at all,” Flagg said Tuesday, June 24 during a pre-draft news conference from the Lotte Palace Hotel in Manhattan. “I’m just going through this process like everybody else. I did my workout, so I’m just going to see what happens tomorrow night.”
What’s going to happen, barring some wildly unexpected outcome is that Dallas, the unlikely winners of the NBA lottery, will take Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick Wednesday, June 25, and make him the franchise cornerstone alongside center Anthony Davis.
Flagg, a 6-foot-8, do-it-all forward starred with Duke this past season as a freshman. He averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game – all of which led the team. He is still 18 years old and won’t turn 19 until December.
In fact, he could become the second-youngest No. 1 overall pick in an NBA draft behind only LeBron James.
“I think positionless is a great way to put it,” Flagg said, describing his skill set. “I’ll do whatever coach wants me to do, I’ll play any role. For me, it’s just doing a ton of different things on the court – just being an impact player – impacting both sides of the ball at a high level and impact winning at a high level.”
He specifically cited scooping rebounds and pushing the ball up the floor in transition, something that has become invaluable in the modern, high-scoring NBA. This is an area where the Mavericks, who ranked 12th in pace (100.15 possessions per 48 minutes), could stand to improve.
Flagg said he had an “incredible” in-person visit and workout with the Mavericks, in which he participated in an hour-and-15-minute session on the court. He added that multiple Mavericks players were in the building at the time and that he was able to link up with them and discuss the team’s culture.
That also brought up a memory, one just a few months prior, that NBA fans will carry for years to come.
Flagg recalled the night when the Mavericks consummated the blockbuster trade that shipped Luka Dončić to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis on Feb. 1. It was the same night Duke had defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels at home.
“I remember being with all my guys,” Flagg said. “We won that game, and so we were all kind of hanging out together. And I remember my teammate Darren Harris who first saw the (news). We just all started going crazy. Such a shock. It was crazy news.”
When asked if the idea of following Dončić as the face of the Mavericks brought any added pressure, Flagg deflected and said he wouldn’t view it that way, saying he would focus on improving as a player.
“I’m not worried about living up to certain player expectations or anything like that,” he said.
When his press conference was over, multiple NBA staffers carved out a path through a mob of reporters, whisking Flagg away to the next thing. There was a photo shoot of him dribbling a ball and spinning it on his fingers. Throughout it all, he seemed perfectly at ease, unfazed by the momentous change that is looming.
All of which makes sense for someone who has been the best player on any court he has stepped on, except the time when he scrimmaged with Team USA, the eventual Olympic gold medalists, as a member of the 2024 USA Men’s Junior National Select Team.
“It’s surreal,” Flagg said. “That’s the word I would use to describe how I’m feeling. I don’t know that it has all set in yet and whatnot, but I’m just trying to enjoy it, take it one day at a time, and really just soak it all in.”
