Duke Basketball Centerpiece Cooper Flagg Announces Next Move

As of Monday morning, three members of the 2024-25 Duke basketball team have officially declared for the 2025 NBA Draft. The latest to do so is freshman phenom forward Cooper Flagg, joining the two who announced their moves last week in rookie guard Kon Knueppel and junior guard Tyrese Proctor.

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Of course, Flagg’s decision to forego his remaining three years of college eligibility to pursue his professional dreams should come as no surprise. After all, the 18-year-old Maine native became the Naismith Player of the Year, not to mention a long list of other top-shelf accolades, and has long appeared as this summer’s projected No. 1 overall pick on just about every big board.

Even so, as days went by without a formal announcement from Flagg, some Duke basketball faithful on social media began to fantasize that there could be even the slightest chance of his return to Durham next season.

Nope. Although some part of Flagg probably wanted to run it back with the Blue Devils, his NBA-ready game surely all but slammed the door on that option a long time ago.

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