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Cooper Flagg poised to be second-youngest No. 1 NBA Draft pick behind LeBron James

Chandler Vesselsby:Chandler Vessels•06/25/25•

ChandlerVessels

cooper flagg lebron james
David Banks-Imagn Images

If all goes as expected, Cooper Flagg will be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft to the Dallas Mavericks. on Wednesday night. That will put him alone in a category with LeBron James as the two youngest No. 1 picks ever in NBA history.

Flagg was born on Dec. 21, 2006, which makes him 18 years, six months and four days old on draft night. That is just slightly older than James, who is still the youngest No. 1 pick in history as he was 18 years, five months and 24 days old when drafted in 2003 to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Dwight Howard, Zion Williamson and Markelle Fultz round out the top five youngest No. 1 picks in NBA history. James and Howard both were drafted out of high school, while Williamson and Flagg both attended Duke for one season.

Pretty much all signs point to the Mavericks drafting Cooper Flagg on Wednesday evening after they lucked out to win the NBA Draft lottery despite having only a 1.8% chance at the top pick. Now they’ll be getting a player with superstar potential to add to a team that expects to compete for a playoff spot in a loaded Western Conference next season.

The hype is large for Flagg after his performance this past season in leading the Blue Devils to the Final Four, where they lost against Houston. He averaged 19.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals per game. He’s a player that even James, now 40 and still playing in the league, believes is a future star.

“I personally think that he wants to be great. He had a hell of a year at Duke,” James said on his Mind the Game podcast. “A guy that can do so many different things out on the floor. Can play with the ball, can play without the ball. His jump shot is going to continue to get better. Super athletic, quick second jump. And also, he has the benefit, unlike myself, he gets to join a team that’s established with Hall of Fame guys — Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving — right off the bat.

“Hall of Fame coach, Jason Kidd. You know, these guys can give him the whole blueprint while he continues to learn what his blueprint will be. And I think that’s going to be an incredible thing for him to have that type of presence, that type of leadership, that type of just basketball IQ and knowledge around him every single day from those pieces. So, I think he’s going to be amazing.”

Of course, James went on to break several NBA records, including the league’s all-time scoring title, and has won four championships so far with three different teams. He too was highly hyped coming into the draft much like Flagg, and it will be interesting to see what kind of career the latter can carve out for himself.