After a crazy good freshman year at Duke, basketball phenom Cooper Flagg has officially declared for the 2025 NBA Draft, where he is widely projected to be the top selection.
Flagg shared the news in an emotional video posted to Instagram, expressing gratitude for his time with the Blue Devils.
“Duke fans, my teammates, the brotherhood, everybody that was along for the journey. It was an incredible year, probably the best year of my life and I have so much gratitude and I feel so blessed for all the opportunities that I was given,” Flagg said. “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. Today is just the beginning, but I have the Brotherhood with me for life.”
Flagg’s decision comes after a dominant season in which he swept every major National Player of the Year award while leading Duke to numerous victories. His two-way impact on the court and leadership off it earned high praise from head coach Jon Scheyer.
“Really proud of Cooper for the special season that he had this year,” Scheyer said. “I think the accolades speak for itself, with what he did, winning every National Player of the Year award. His highlights, his statistics, the ways he impacted the game on both ends of the floor, really in every category, was off the charts. As good of a freshman season that a guy has had here.”
Scheyer also emphasized Flagg’s character and team-first mentality.
“But to me, the separator and the joy of coaching Cooper is the person he was every day, the teammate that he was. Never about statistics or anything other than creating an environment and helping his team to win,” Scheyer continued. “And we won a lot of games and had a lot of success and a lot of times that environment is created from your best player. And Cooper did an incredible job in every facet of our program, on and off the court, with what he’s done.”
