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Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, the national men's college basketball player of the year, has officially declared for the 2025 NBA Draft.
Flagg, 18, the consensus No. 1 prospect for the 2024 high school basketball recruiting cycle after reclassifying in August 2023, has long been projected to be the No. 1 overall prospect in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft following a stellar freshman season at Duke.
"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. 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," he said.
"Today is just the beginning, but I have the Brotherhood with me for life."
Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists during his lone collegiate season, leading Duke to a 35-4 record and Final Four appearance, as well as being selected as a consensus first-team All-American.
"Really proud of Cooper for the special season that he had this year," Duke coach Jon Scheyer said via ESPN. "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.
"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. 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."
The 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, which will determine the No. 1 overall pick and order of the non-playoff teams, will be held on May 12 and the 2025 NBA Draft will take place on June 25.