A kid from Maine may be chosen first in the NBA draft for the first time ever.
Cooper Flagg ended the national speculation over his basketball future on Monday by declaring for the NBA draft. Flagg is widely expected to be the number one pick when the draft begins on June 25.
“It was an incredible year, probably the best year of my life,” Flagg said in a video posted to social media Monday. “I have so much gratitude. I feel so blessed for all the opportunities that I was given. Duke has always been a dream for me, but I’m excited to announce that I’ll be entering my name into the 2025 NBA Draft.”
The Newport, Maine, native had been reflecting about his path forward after he and the Duke Blue Devils lost in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament earlier this month.
That March Madness run and a 35-4 season for Duke, though two wins short of the ultimate goal of a national championship, helped lock in Flagg’s poll position heading into the NBA draft. Flagg won five of the six official men’s college player of the year awards this season.
The 6-foot-9 freshman captivated the basketball world with his balanced play on both ends of the floor, continuing to anchor one of the best teams in college basketball as just an 18-year-old. He could have still been a senior in high school this season had he not skipped a year.
Flagg led Duke in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks this past season and left NBA scouts, legends and current players alike wowed at his ability and potential at the next level.
There hadn’t been much of a question for some time that Flagg would go number one in the draft, as long as he entered the draft. Now that he has, the only real question that remains is who will win the prize of selecting him first overall.
The order for the first 14 picks in the draft will be decided in the May 12 lottery, and each of the league’s 14 teams with the lowest records will be assigned odds for receiving the first pick. A drawing of ping pong balls will determine which team actually secures that coveted first spot.
The three teams that finished the recently completed NBA regular season with the worst records — the Utah Jazz, the Washington Wizards and the Charlotte Hornets — will have the best chance of winning the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes. Those three teams will each have a 14 percent chance of winning the first pick.
Flagg has told NJ.com feel completely blessed and honored to play for any team that he’d “feel completely blessed and honored to play for any team,” and plenty of Maine fans have similarly signaled that they will be rooting for him no matter where he ends up as of June 25.
In the same way that Flagg helped create a new legion of Duke fans — or at least help that team be less hated for a season — expect him to have the same effect for whichever NBA franchise wins the lottery in less than a month.
