NEW YORK — Cooper Flagg is the new Maine man in Dallas.
To no one’s surprise, the Mavericks took the former Duke forward with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Wednesday night, hoping they have found their next franchise superstar less than five months after trading one away.
Mavericks fans were furious when Dallas traded five-time NBA All-Star guard Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 1, with some immediately threatening to end their support of the team for shedding one of the game’s biggest current names before his 26th birthday.
The ones who stuck around may quickly love Flagg, the national college player of the year who averaged 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds while leading the Blue Devils to the NCAA tournament’s Final Four in his lone college season. The Mavericks quickly announced the 6-foot-8, 221-pound Flagg would wear No. 32 in Dallas, where fellow Duke products Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively II are on the roster.
The Mavericks, who reached the play-in tournament but not the playoffs, won the draft lottery last month, providing themselves a quick opportunity for redemption. Flagg is carrying those hopes but counting on the veterans around him to show him the way.
“I’m really excited. I think I keep saying I’m excited to be a sponge, to get down there and just learn, be surrounded by Hall of Fame-caliber guys and just to be able to learn from them,” Flagg said. “It’s going to be an incredible experience.”
His selection at No. 1 overall — considered likely ever since Flagg showed off his considerable game last summer after being invited to the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team’s training camp ahead of the Paris Games — was a daylong celebration in his home state for the 18-year-old from Newport, Maine.
“It means a lot to me to have the support of the whole state. I know how many people showed up today and supported me at some of the draft parties back home,” Flagg said. “It feels amazing knowing I can inspire younger kids. I was in their shoes really not that long ago, so just to know I can give those kids those feelings and have the whole state behind me, it means a lot.”
He joined Elton Brand, Irving, Zion Williamson and Paolo Banchero as Duke players drafted No. 1 since 1999, and he returned the draft to its longtime start with a one-and-done college player.
That’s the way the draft began every year from 2010 until Banchero’s selection in 2022, but the past two No. 1 picks, Victor Wembanyama for the San Antonio Spurs and Zaccherie Risacher for the Atlanta Hawks, are both from France and didn’t go the U.S. college route.
Rutgers freshman Dylan Harper was taken by the Spurs with the No. 2 pick and will try to follow Wembanyama and Stephon Castle and give the franchise a third straight NBA rookie of the year.
“It’s definitely a goal of mine to make it three in a row,” Harper said. “I think the coaching staff and the players are going to make it easy for me to go out there and showcase my talent, so definitely.”
The Philadelphia 76ers then took Baylor University guard VJ Edgecombe, getting the first sustained burst of loud cheers of the draft from what seemed to be a number of fans who made the trip from the City of Brotherly Love to the Barclays Center, the home of the Brooklyn Nets. The first two picks had long been expected, but the No. 3 spot was the first one where there was intrigue.
Kon Knueppel, another Duke forward, made it two Blue Devils in the first four picks when the Charlotte Hornets chose him. When big man Khaman Maluach went at No. 10 — a pick made by the Houston Rockets but headed to the Phoenix Suns as part of the trade for Kevin Durant that can’t become official until next month — it gave the Blue Devils three top-10 picks and 50 in the first round since 1989, moving past Kentucky (48) for the most by any school.
“It was so emotional getting to see my teammates, my fellow freshmen getting drafted,” Maluach said. “I was so happy for them because they deserve everything they have. They worked hard for it, for that moment, too.”
Ace Bailey, Harper’s teammate with the Scarlet Knights who could have been in the mix to go third but declined to work out for the 76ers, ended up going at No. 5 to the Utah Jazz to end a draft process in which he was criticized for how his camp handled it.
“I’m glad it’s over,” the 18-year-old Chattanooga native said. “I’m ready to play some basketball now.”
Then it was Tre Johnson of Texas to the Washington Wizards at No. 6 and Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears to the New Orleans Pelicans at No. 7. The host Nets took BYU’s Egor Demin at No. 8, Brooklyn’s first of potentially five selections in the first round. The Toronto Raptors took South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles at No. 9.
The Nets would later add French guard Nolan Traore at No. 19, North Carolina’s Drake Powell at No. 22 (once a three-way trade with the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks is complete), Ben Saraf of Israel at No. 26 and Michigan center Danny Wolf at No. 27.
The Memphis Grizzlies moved up to 11th in the draft in a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers and ended up with Cedric Coward of Washington State. Coward played at Division III member Willamette as well as Eastern Washington, had an injury-shortened year at Washington State and planned to transfer to Duke but stayed in the draft pool after testing well at the scouting combine.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, just three days removed from winning the NBA title, took Georgetown center Thomas Sorber at No. 15, their first of two picks in the first round. They also had the No. 24 pick but traded the rights to Nique Clifford to the Sacramento Kings for a future first-round pick.
There were some mid-round trades involving some of college basketball’s top players. The Pelicans acquired the rights to Maryland forward Derik Queen, the No. 13 pick, from the Hawks for the rights to the No. 23 pick, Asa Newell of Georgia, and a future first-round pick. Newell stays in state to suit up for Atlanta after averaging 15.4 points and 6.9 rebounds for the Bulldogs this past season.
Walter Clayton Jr., voted the most outstanding player of the Final Four in April after leading Florida to the national championship, was drafted by the Wizards at No. 18, but his rights were dealt to the Jazz for the rights to Illinois forward Will Riley, who went 21st.
It’s the second time that the basketball powerhouse had a quartet taken in the draft. In 2021, the school had alums Cade Cunningham (1st), Scottie Barnes (4th), Moses Moody (14th) and Day’Ron Sharpe (29th) all drafted in the first round.
For the second year in a row, the draft is a two-day event, and the action resumes Thursday night with the second round and its 29 picks still ahead. All of the players invited to this year’s draft were taken in the first round, with Liam McNeeley of Connecticut the last at No. 19, with the Suns sending his rights to the Hornets.
In addition to Flagg starting a run of Duke selections, he was also first in line for what became the second quartet from Florida’s Montverde Academy to be taken in the first round of an NBA draft.
Flagg, McNeeley, Newell and Queen played together on the 2023-24 team that went 33-0 while winning by an average of 34 points, including 30 games in which the margin of victory was double digits. They won the school’s eighth national championship and finished as the No. 1 boys’ high school basketball team in the country.
“I got to watch all my guys get drafted,” McNeeley said.
The first time the school had four first-round selections was in 2021, when Cade Cunningham was taken first overall and Scottie Barnes (fourth), Moses Moody (14th) and Day’Ron Sharpe (29th) were also selected.