Cooper Flag selected No. 1 from the Dallas Mavericks
Bryan Kalbrosky talks about the highly anticipated outlook for the NBA Draft, the Cooper Flag and what he brings to the game.
Sports Pulse
NEW YORK – The Dallas Mavericks selected Duke’s freshman-forward Cooper Flag with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday night, closing out a chaotic year filled with injuries, shortages and heart-warming trade that rocked the league.
Dallas reached the position of selecting flags after the lottery draft on May 12th. At that time, the Mavericks had a 1.8% chance of winning the lottery, jumping over 10 spots and had the opportunity to change their fortunes in a few months.
At Flagg, the Mavericks scored a 18-year-old 6-foot-7, 220-pound player, scoring at all three levels and leading the nation to Box Plus-Minus, which is used as an estimate of the player’s contribution to the team. He can start for Dallas from the moment he arrives, and can complement Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving with every return from a knee injury.
This choice will allow the Mavericks fan base to forget and forgive general manager Nico Harrison. It depends on the day you ask and the performance of FLAGG in the first half of the following season. Maybe some of the disgruntled fans and thousands of people will be turned back, probably with the cancellation of their season tickets.
“My way of thinking has always been to be a winner, so I’m going to try and try to win as hard as I can wherever I go. I certainly look forward to winning a lot of games,” Flag said after being drafted.
Flag, who is originally from Newport, Maine, says he has support from around the state. Newport’s population is approximately 3,200.
“I know how many people came out today and supported me at some of my hometown draft parties,” Flag said. “It’s amazing to know that I can inspire younger children. I was wearing their shoes so it makes a lot of sense to give their children those feelings and know that they have the whole state behind me.”
What Cooper Flag brings to the table
Flag has been on the NBA radar since his high school freshman year and won all individual National Player of the Year awards while not disappointed when he arrived at Duke and leading the Blue Devils to the Final Four. Flagg’s offensive game is well translated into the NBA. He was able to finish easily on the rim, and his outside shots were the team leaders of Steel and Block, with 38.5% of his attempts hitting 38.5% from the 3-point range, but averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists, leading the Duke in these three categories.
As Harrison cites it as one of the reasons why he ships Doncic to Los Angeles Lakers, Flag is asked to handle a significant scoring load and become a defensive force until Irving is healthy.
The way he handles the other three and four at both ends of the floor is important, and as someone who has a sophisticated and offensive game, Flagg could become an All-star early in his career and should thrive soon. Whether that’s enough to embrace victory, the championship-oriented Mavericks go where they want to be is a different story.
“I think positioningless is the best way to put it,” Flag explained his skill set, saying. “A coach does whatever he wants to do to me. What role do I do. For me, I’m just doing a lot of different things on the court – I’m just an impact player, I’m going to impact both sides of the ball at a high level and I’m going to impact at a high level.”
Flag, who won’t turn 19 until December 21st, is the second youngest, No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft behind LeBron James.
Flagg is the sixth Duke player overall, taking part in Art Heyman (1963), Elton Brand (1999), Kyrie Irving (2011), Zion Williamson (2019) and Paolo Banchero (2022). The Blue Devils are ranked number one pick than any other school in the general draft era (1966).
He also beat a two-year international player streak in 2024 with France’s Zaccharie Risacher and France’s Victor Wembanyama in 2023 with France’s Victor Wembanyama in 2023 with first place overall.
