Flagg is the first player selected number 1 over all by Dallas since Mark Aguirre in 1090
The Dallas Mavericks have selected Cooper Flagg, a forward from Duke University, with the first overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft. In his lone season at Duke, Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.4 steals, on 48% from the floor (including 38.5% from three) in 37 games.
Flagg heads to Dallas after one of the most celebrated seasons in college basketball in recent memory and is widely regarded as one of the best prospects in the last decade. Duke finished the season 35-4, falling in the NCAA Tournament semi-final game to Houston.
Despite starting his college career at 17 (he turned 18 in December), Flagg brought home a list of awards by season’s end:
National Player of the Year Awards
- USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy (National Player of the Year)
- Wooden Award
- AP National Player of the Year
- Naismith Trophy
National Freshman of the Year
- USBWA Wayman Tisdale Award
- NABC Freshman of the Year
ACC Awards
- ACC Player of the Year
- ACC Freshman of the Year
- First Team All-ACC
- ACC All-Defensive Team
- ACC All-Freshman Team
Other Notable Honors
- Consensus First Team All-American
- Julius Erving Award (best small forward)
The Mavericks won the right to select Flagg on May 12th, where they improbably jumped up from the 11th spot in the NBA Draft lottery up to the first spot. They had a 1.8% chance of making this jump and it ended up being the first time in Dallas history where they actually moved up since the NBA started the draft lottery system.
This is the first time Dallas has selected number one in the draft lottery era, but it is not the first time they have selected number one overall. Mark Aguirre was selected first in that draft after Dallas won a coin flip with the Detroit Pistons to determine who went first.
Flagg becomes the first white American selected number one over all since Kent Benson in 1977. If you don’t remember who Kent Benson was, well, he was punched by Kareem Adbul-Jabar minutes into his NBA career.
The selection of Flagg hopefully means some stability for a franchise that’s been in a very chaotic place since the decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Lakers in February. There are many questions that need answering about how Dallas expects to play their glut of forwards, but for now, this is a time for celebration. Cooper Flagg projects to be a magnificent player and the future looks good for the Dallas Mavericks.