By Reuters
June 25, 2025 – 10:05 PM PDT
Cooper Flagg anticipated the moment for many months.
Still, when the Duke product heard his name called Wednesday at No. 1 overall in the NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks, he experienced a flurry of emotions.
“I’m feeling amazing,” Flagg said as he stood with his family. “It’s a dream come true, to be honest. I wouldn’t want to share it with anybody else.”
The Mavericks’ announcement ended a months-long buildup for the 18-year-old Maine native, who had long been projected as the top pick. The only question was which team would get a chance to take him, and Dallas earned that opportunity when it won the NBA Draft lottery last month despite 1.8 percent odds.
Flagg figures to quickly provide a new face of the franchise for the Mavericks, who drew ire from their fan base after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers last season.
The 6-foot-8, 221-pound Flagg helped guide Duke to an NCAA Final Four appearance after averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks as a freshman. He won the Wooden Award as the nation’s best player along with taking home other honors including Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year and an ACC All-Defensive Team nod.
The San Antonio Spurs followed with the No. 2 pick, which they used to select Rutgers guard Dylan Harper. The son of longtime NBA player Ron Harper will join a talented roster that includes prized big man Victor Wembanyama and reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle.
Harper said he could not wait to get to San Antonio to prepare for the season.
“I’m feeling everything — all the emotions mixed in one bucket,” Harper said. “I think when you play with a bunch of great players, it brings the best out of you. They’ve got a great young core over there. I’m just ready to get in there and make an impact any way I can with those guys.”
At No. 3, the Philadelphia 76ers selected guard VJ Edgecombe out of Baylor. He was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year after averaging 15 points and 5.6 rebounds for the Bears.
The Charlotte Hornets selected Duke guard Kon Knueppel next, which marked the second Blue Devils freshman to be selected in the top four picks. Now, Knueppel will stay in North Carolina to play in the NBA.
“It was a big spotlight at Duke,” he said. “(We) freshmen didn’t shy away from that, and it prepared us for the next level. Hopefully, that will carry over.”
The Utah Jazz selected Ace Bailey out of Rutgers to round out the top five picks.
The next three selections were Texas’ Tre Johnson to the Washington Wizards at No. 6, Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears to the New Orleans Pelicans at No. 7 and BYU’s Egor Demin to the Brooklyn Nets at No. 8.
The ninth pick belonged to the Toronto Raptors, who selected forward Collin Murray-Boyles out of South Carolina.
Duke big man Khaman Maluach heard his name called at No. 10 overall. The pick belonged to the Houston Rockets, who then sent the draft rights to Maluach to the Phoenix Suns as part of a deal to be finalized for Kevin Durant.
Maluach was born in South Sudan and did not discover basketball until he was an adolescent.
“I’m here representing the whole continent,” Maluach said. “Leaving Africa, I had the whole continent on my back. (I want to be) giving hope to young kids, inspiring young kids and the next generation of African basketball.”
The Memphis Grizzlies reportedly traded up to grab Washington State swing player Cedric Coward at No. 11. Chicago followed by taking forward Noa Essengue of France at No. 12, and then Atlanta Hawks nabbed Maryland big man Derik Queen at No. 13, then reportedly traded him to the Pelicans.
The final pick of the lottery was Arizona forward Carter Bryant, who went to the Spurs at No. 14.
The next four picks were Georgetown center Thomas Sorber to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder at No. 15, Chinese center Yang Hansen to Portland at No. 16, French center Joan Beringer to the Minnesota Timberwolves at No. 17 and Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. to the Jazz at No. 18.
Brooklyn ended up with more first-round selections: Nolan Traore of France at No. 19, Drake Powell of North Carolina at No. 22 (via the Hawks), Ben Saraf of Israel at No. 26 and Danny Wolf of Michigan at No. 27.
Illinois had back-to-back players selected as the Miami Heat took Kasparas Jakucionis at No. 20 and the Utah Jazz took Will Riley at No. 21. Riley reportedly will be dealt to the Wizards.
The final batch of first-round picks included Asa Newell of Georgia at No. 23 overall to Atlanta, Nique Clifford of Colorado State at No. 24 overall (drafted by the Thunder and reportedly traded to the Sacramento Kings) and Jase Richardson of Michigan State at No. 25 overall to the Orlando Magic.
After Saraf and Wolf went to Brooklyn, the Boston Celtics took Hugo Gonzalez of Spain with the 28th pick. Phoenix selected UConn sharpshooter Liam McNeeley at No. 29 and reportedly dealt him to Charlotte, and the Los Angeles Clippers closed out the first round by taking Penn State big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser.
The Mavericks had the No. 1 overall pick for the second time in franchise history. They also had the top selection in 1981, when they drafted Mark Aguirre out of DePaul.
–Field Level Media