Cooper Flagg sends clear message to Dallas Mavericks ahead of 2025 NBA draft: "I’m just going to try to be me"

Duke Blue Devils forward Cooper Flagg has been considered the consensus top pick in this year's draft. On April 20, Flagg officially declared for the NBA draft through his Instagram account after a stellar one-and-done stint with the Blue Devils.

With the Dallas Mavericks garnering the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft lottery on Monday, they are expected to select Flagg. In an interview with ESPN 2 on Wednesday, the Newport, Maine native sent out a clear message for the Mavericks and any team looking to draft him.

"I haven’t thought about it a ton yet. Just trying to take this one day at a time. Wherever I end up, wherever it is, I’m just going to try to be me to the best of my abilities," Flagg was quoted as saying.

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In his lone year of college basketball, Flagg was one of the rookie sensations for the 2024-2025 season. He averaged outstanding numbers, leading his team in all five major stat categories with 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game.

The 18-year-old led coach Jon Scheyer's Blue Devils to a 35-4 overall record, 19-1 during ACC play this year, and made it all the way to the 2025 NCAA Final Four, just missing out on the national title game through a tight 70-67 loss to the Houston Cougars.

With a 1.8% chance, the Dallas Mavericks got the first overall pick and will likely take Cooper Flagg with it

As mentioned, Cooper Flagg has been at the forefront of this year's NBA draft, touted as the No.1 overall pick. Even with the Dallas Mavericks only having a 1.8% chance of getting the top selection draft lottery in Chicago, Illinois, on Monday, they still earned it in what ESPN Research reports to be the biggest move by any team in lottery history.

This allows the Mavericks to draft Cooper Flagg with the first pick and have him be teammates with All-Stars like Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson for his rookie year.

On February 1, the basketball world was shocked after the Dallas front office traded superstar Luka Doncic for Davis, among others. Flagg's insertion might alleviate that confusion amongst NBA fans and spectators, especially the Mavericks faithful.

About the author

Koby del Rosario is a college sports journalist at Sportskeeda who took up BS in Advertising Management at De La Salle University, one of the big "four" universities in the Philippines. Koby has over four years of experience with Complex PH, M2.0 Communications, The LaSallian, Daily Tribune, and Time Attack Manila.

Koby's favorite college team would have to be the North Carolina Tar Heels. Apart from being MJ's alma mater, Koby has always been fond of the Jordan silhouettes that release in the school's colors (being a sneakerhead himself).

His past favorite college players would have to be Russell Westbrook (UCLA) and Markelle Fultz (Washington). With Russ, his 1-2 punch with Kevin Love during their UCLA days was something Koby marveled at as Russ became his favorite player to watch post-Kobe.

Besides playing basketball, Koby enjoys nightlife, collecting sneakers, and playing video games. Apart from hosting parties and taking pictures for parties/bars/clubs, Koby is learning to DJ as a hobby with all sorts of house and hip-hop as the main genres.

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Edited by Dipayan Moitra