NBA Rumors: Cooper Flagg's NBA future will likely be determined on May 12, when the NBA Draft Lottery takes place.
As we inch closer to the midway point of the NBA regular season, that only means one thing. Well, it could mean a few things. However, for the teams that have already fallen out of the playoff race in their respective conferences, the start of the pre-draft process is nearly here. In what is expected to be a strong 2025 class, there is already plenty of hype surrounding the top of the draft.
Cooper Flagg, who is largely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, continues to make waves during his freshman season at Duke. In his most recent game, Flagg had a historic performance in which he finished with 42 points, seven assists, and six rebounds in a win over Notre Dame. As his stock continues to rise, it's only natural to wonder what could lie ahead when it comes to his NBA future.
Soon enough, we should get some clarity on that. Specifically, where he's going to begin his NBA journey is likely going to be decided on May 12, when it was announced that the NBA's Draft Lottery will take place. Short of something drastically changing between now and the NBA Draft, Flagg is more than likely going to be the unanimous No. 1 overall pick. That means whichever team ends up winning the draft lottery is going to draft Flagg.
What are realistic expectations for Cooper Flagg?
Even though Flagg hasn't gotten the hype that Zion Williamson or Victor Wembanyama had as they prepared to make the jump to the NBA, that doesn't mean that he's not going to have a great chance to be a superstar-type of player in the Association. In fact, I'd argue that Flagg has proven more during his time at Duke than Zion did during their respective freshman seasons.
This is not to say that Flagg is going to be a more dominant player than Zion is at the moment but he does check a lot of the boxes that NBA teams want in a future face of the franchise. I suppose the big question for Flagg is not whether he's going to translate as a good player at the next level. I believe that's a pretty safe bet at this point. Instead, I believe the bigger question revolves around how high of a ceiling he may have.
That can only be determined when he officially steps onto the floor for the first time as an NBA player. Where that will be remains to be seen but we should find out sooner rather than later. In just a few short months, we're going to find out not only where Flagg will almost certainly begin his NBA career but also get a ton more clarity on how the draft order is going to look like.