Cooper Flagg is considered a near-certainty to be the No. 1 general choose within the 2025 NBA Draft. That assumption relies on the expectation that he can be a one-and-done participant at Duke and enter the draft after his freshman marketing campaign ends.
Flagg himself, nonetheless, hit the brakes on that sentiment in a brand new interview. The celebrity freshman dropped a quote in a current interview that urged he could be open to returning to Duke for one more yr.
“S—, I need to come again subsequent yr,” Flagg told Brendan Quinn and Brendan Marks of The Athletic.
To be clear, there’s a huge distinction between admitting to such a transfer and really doing it. A lot of the profile was targeted on how rapidly issues are transferring for Flagg and the way he’s attempting to absorb and revel in his freshman yr. His faculty season has moved in a short time, as the beginning of the NCAA Match is already roughly a month away.
Flagg’s season got off to a somewhat underwhelming start given the quantity of hype he arrived with. Since then, although, he has been as marketed after which some. Coming into play Saturday, he’s averaging 19.8 factors and seven.6 rebounds per sport, together with a 42-point effort towards Notre Dame on Jan. 11.
It does stay doable that Flagg will shock the world and return for his sophomore season at Duke. Extra realistically, he’s nonetheless prone to be a one-and-done after a single dominant season, and can wind up being the highest choose within the June draft.