The basketball world finally knows where Duke basketball phenom Cooper Flagg is going, and it’s…the Dallas Mavericks?
The team that reached the NBA Finals just last year before trading 26-year-old superstar Luka Doncic in February entered Monday’s 2025 NBA Draft Lottery with a 1.8% chance to snag the No. 1 overall pick, but general manager Nico Harrison walked away with the last laugh as the Mavericks look ready to pair the Wooden Award winner with five-time All-NBA forward Anthony Davis and three-time All-NBA guard Kyrie Irving.
The other four starters that guided the Blue Devils to the Final Four also declared for the 2025 NBA draft, however, and The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie thinks each of them will find a home in the sport’s most elite league. In Vecenie’s first post-lottery mock draft published on Sunday night (subscription required), all five Blue Devils came off the board within the first 47 selections.
Here’s where all five Duke basketball players went in Vecenie’s latest projection.
Cooper Flagg
Pick: No. 1 overall
Team: Dallas Mavericks
Draft cycles are always less exciting when there’s no conjecture over the top spot on the board, but even the most inflammatory college basketball personalities would have a hard time coming up with a counter here. Flagg, who turned 18 years old in December, averaged 19.2 points and made 38.5% of his 3-pointers as a scorer, stashed 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks as a defender, and dished out 4.2 assists as a passer.
“Flagg was going to go No. 1 regardless of who got the pick,” as Vecenie wrote.
Kon Knueppel
Pick: No. 7 overall
Team: New Orleans Pelicans
Knueppel began his freshman season with questions about his ceiling due to an unremarkable athletic profile, but the 6-foot-6 guard found ways to the basket anyway. He averaged 14.4 points per game, the second-most of any Blue Devil, and ended the season with a 40.6% 3-point percentage and a 91.4% free-throw percentage.
Khaman Maluach
Pick: No. 9 overall
Team: Toronto Raptors
Maluach averaged 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game with the Blue Devils, but the 7-foot-2-inch center’s lateral speed and confidence on the defensive perimeter truly set his presence apart from his peers. He comfortably handled switches toward the 3-point line, and he took strides as a scoring threat down the line with 13 points against the Arizona Wildcats in the Sweet 16 and 14 points against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Elite Eight.
Tyrese Proctor
Pick: No. 37 overall
Team: Detroit Pistons
One of four Duke basketball players who made at least 40% of his 3-pointers in 2024-25, Proctor averaged a career-high 12.4 points per game as an off-ball scoring threat. He played in 106 games over three years with the Blue Devils, but he just turned 21 years old on April 1.
Sion James
Pick: No. 47 overall
Team: Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks have problems beyond the draft to worry about right now with two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo reportedly weighing whether he wants to remain in Milwaukee, but it’d be hard for the franchise to find a more reliable and well-rounded player this late in the draft. James averaged 8.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 0.8 steals while making 41.3% of his 3-pointers as a fifth-year senior.
