As a help defender, Flagg shines. His quick twitch muscles sync up perfectly with his brain to allow him to fly in and block shots at the rim and knock away pass attempts in the gaps. Cooper has a plus wingspan and a sturdy frame and has mastered his physical gifts to be come a special off-ball defender.

The Dallas Mavericks will draft Cooper Flagg with the first overall pick, and he'll play with two former Kentucky Wildcats.

The 2025 NBA predraft process officially kicks off Saturday, with an expected 120 players, including Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, Derik Queen, Walter Clayton Jr ., and others, congregating in Chicago for the NBA draft combine, G League Elite Camp, and agency pro days.

The projected No. 1 overall draft pick may have grown a bit in his one-and-done Duke basketball campaign.

This is emphatically not the situation Cooper Flagg is about to walk into. If everything goes right, the Mavericks -- who improbably won the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft on Monday night -- could genuinely contend for the 2026 championship.

Kendall Cooper is one of the top blueliners available in the 2025 PWHL Draft. The Quinnipiac captain will be a top three round pick this year bringing her mobile game to the PWHL.

Bryant profiles perfectly there as a long ... He’ll be the second-youngest player in this draft class behind Cooper Flagg and is averaging 12 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks ...

Where the similarities start: A one-and-done out of Duke, Tatum has developed into one of the NBA's best players in his mid-20s, becoming the anchor of a championship team in 2024. A gifted scorer in high school, Tatum developed from a midrange player into a more well-rounded offensive option over time.

Duke basketball’s Cooper Flagg will enter the 2025 NBA Draft ... Lamar Odom and Scottie Barnes are on that list of players with similar profiles to Flagg. Nit-picking Flagg’s game, there ...

NBA fans on X chimed in with their reactions to the Flagg-Pippen comparison as it grabbed attention on social media. One user commented that Flagg's ability to take over a game is more reminiscent of LeBron James than Scottie Pippen, while another questioned whether Flagg is the same type of "quick-twitch" athlete Pippen was in his prime.