Mike Krzyzewski Sends Strong Cooper Flagg Message Before 2025 NBA Draft

The NBA draft is set for Wednesday, June 25, and all signs point to Duke Blue Devils freshman sensation Cooper Flagg being selected No. 1 overall by the Dallas Mavericks—who stunningly won the NBA draft lottery despite having less than a 2% chance at the top pick.

Just months after the unexpected trade of Luka Doncic, Dallas is now poised to land the next face of the franchise in Flagg. The freshman phenom led the Blue Devils in every major statistical category this past season and guided them to a Final Four appearance, where they were ultimately eliminated by the Houston Cougars.

Flagg’s freshman campaign will be remembered as one of the greatest in Duke history. He captured the Wooden Award, ACC Player of the Year, and ACC Rookie of the Year honors, while averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.4 steals per game.

Flagg recently received high praise from legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who appeared on a SiriusXM College Sports podcast. Krzyzewski shared that while he still considers Grant Hill the greatest Duke player of all time, Flagg is the best one-and-done freshman the program has ever seen.

"Grant (Hill) is the best player to ever play at Duke, [Christian] Laettner is the most accomplished...Cooper in his freshman year is definitely the best freshman that has ever played." Krzyzewski said. "We need to have American stars, we have a lot of international stars... Cooper can be that. His future... hopefully he stays hungry and healthy, his future with be incredible, not good."