Cooper Flagg shared a heartfelt moment with mom Kelly on Wednesday night after being selected No. 1 overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2025 NBA Draft.
The Duke superstar, long projected to go first overall, embraced his mom at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn after NBA commissioner Adam Silver called his name on stage.
The 6-foot-9 forward, who looked dapper in a BOSS suit, was rejoined by his family for a post-selection interview with ESPN, where Kelly gushed over her son.
“I just hoped that he loved the game as much as we all have,” Kelly said. “We’re just thrilled he did love it and got to this moment, it’s incredible.”
Flagg, joined by his siblings and dad Ralph, added he “wouldn’t be here” without them.
The Flagg family is rooted in basketball.
Kelly, a 1,000-point scorer in high school, played for the University of Maine in the late 1990s and helped the women’s team defeat Stanford University to win the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament game in the 1998–99 season.
That team was inducted into the school’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.
Meanwhile, patriarch Ralph played basketball for Eastern Maine Community College.
In 2022, Flagg, along with older brother Hunter and twin brother Ace, helped the Nokomis Regional High School basketball team in Maine secure a state championship.
In a pre-draft interview with ESPN Originals, Flagg revealed that one-on-one matchups with his mom would get intense at home.
“We used to play one-on-one all the time in the driveway …. She used to beat me all the time,” he said.
Flagg told ESPN’s Malika Andrews on Tuesday that their family lives by this saying from Kelly: “If you’re the best player in the gym, then you have to find a new gym.”
Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists in his freshman season at Duke.
“It’s going to be incredible,” Flagg said of having his family with him while experiencing the 2025 NBA Draft. “These are some of the moments I’ve dreamed about my entire life and to be able to go through it with them is truly surreal. I’m really excited.”