As anticipated, the Mavericks have chosen Duke ahead Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 total decide of the 2025 NBA Draft.
The consensus high prospect is coming off a wildly profitable freshman season with the Blue Devils, having gained quite a few main awards, together with ACC Participant of the 12 months and AP Participant of the 12 months, amongst a number of others.
Flagg was the driving power behind Duke’s 35-4 document and helped the group attain the Closing 4 of the NCAA Match earlier than dropping to Houston, one other No. 1 seed.
The 18-year-old combo ahead stuffed the stat sheet all season, main the stacked Blue Devils in factors (19.2), rebounds (7.5), assists (4.2), steals (1.4) and blocks (1.4) per sport, with a powerful taking pictures line of .481/.385/.840. Flagg made 37 appearances in 2024-25, averaging 30.7 minutes per contest.
Dallas had only a 1.8% probability of claiming this yr’s high decide, leaping up from No. 11 to No. 1 when the group won the draft lottery final month. It was the primary time in 17 lottery appearances that the Mavericks ended up with a greater decide than their odds dictated.
Along with being considered as the perfect prospect in his class, Flagg can also be (a minimum of) a yr youthful than a lot of his friends, having reclassified from 2026 — he gained’t flip 19 till Dec. 21.
The previous Blue Satan star will be part of 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 brand new three-year contract to stay in Dallas.
