Cooper Flagg Reveals His Favorite NBA Player Without Hesitation
Cooper Flagg is now a month removed from completing a stellar freshman season with the Duke Blue Devils, having arrived as a five-star recruit out of Newport, Maine.
He lived up to the high expectations, leading Duke to an ACC title and a Final Four appearance. His standout play earned him a sweep of major honors, including the Wooden Award for National Player of the Year, ACC Player of the Year, and ACC Rookie of the Year.
Now, Flagg is preparing for the 2025 NBA Draft in June and is expected to participate — at least in some capacity — at the NBA draft combine, which begins Sunday, despite being the consensus projected No. 1 overall pick.
Ahead of the combine, the “NBA Future Starts Now” account on X shared a Q&A with Flagg from before his time at Duke. When asked who his favorite NBA player was, he named fellow Duke legend and current Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum. Considering Flagg is from New England, his admiration for Tatum comes as no surprise.
“Probably Jayson Tatum, just because I’m a Celtics fan,” Flagg said. “I like his game a lot, and I kind of try and take pieces of his game.”
Flagg led Duke in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks this past season. He averaged an impressive 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 48.1% from the field, 38.5% from beyond the arc and 84.0% from the free-throw line.
The NBA Draft lottery on Monday, May 12 will reveal where NBA fans will likely see Flagg land. Currently, the teams with the best odds to secure the No. 1 overall pick are the Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets at 14%; the New Orleans Pelicans at 12.5%; and the Philadelphia 76ers at 10.5%.
However, if history has taught us anything, the draft lottery can be full of surprises. Any team with even a slight chance of landing the top pick can make a leap, and there are a few other intriguing teams with lower odds. The Dallas Mavericks (1.8%), Chicago Bulls (1.8%), Atlanta Hawks (0.8%) and potentially even the San Antonio Spurs (6%), who are already building around Victor Wembanyama, could all emerge as wild cards.
