Top 2025 NBA Draft prospect Cooper Flagg put shots up at the Brooklyn Nets practice facility Saturday ahead of Duke's game at Madison Square Garden, to the delight of many Nets faithful hoping to somehow snag the elite forward.
Duke took down Illinois, 110-67, in the program’s fifth sellout at MSG (19,812 in attendance) since 2015, as Flagg posted 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 23 minutes. This was the largest margin of victory (43) by the Blue Devils inat MSG, breaking the previous 35-point record. Duke is now 100-34 all-time in 13 current NBA venues.
S/O @BrooklynNets! Facility is elite pic.twitter.com/LcBoxV14ze
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) February 22, 2025
Seven Blue Devils reached double-digit scoring figures, and the team posted 28 assists to just 10 turnovers as a whole.
Brooklyn’s state-of-the-art HSS Training Center includes a weight room, training pool, rooftop entertainment space, 3,000 square feet of hospitality and lounge space, a media interview and workroom, an 18-seat multimedia theater, two hydro pools and two full basketball courts.
HSS has partnered with the Nets since 2004 to provide world-class orthopedic care for the athletes, following the organization from New Jersey to Brooklyn in 2012.
Largest Duke wins at MSG
- 43 points v. Illinois (2/22/25)
- 35 points v. Cal (11/21/19)
- 35 points v. Gonzaga (12/19/09)
- 34 points v. Seton Hall (2/23/61)
Cooper Flagg showed all of his versatility and continually improving skill in Duke's blowout win over Illinois. Pushing in transition, operating both ways in pick and roll, rebounding, guarding, making shots and more. pic.twitter.com/7BosAel8Fe
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) February 23, 2025
Flagg’s future in question
“I want to come back next year,” Flagg told The Athletic.
That statement made everyone start to reconsider whether the projected No. 1 pick could shock the world and ultimately return to Duke next season. Even Illinois head basketball coach Brad Underwood urged the freshman to stay in school following Saturday’s matchup in New York.
“I hope he stays in school,” Underwood said to the Associated Press. “If I’m the NCAA or the ACC, I’m figuring out an NIL deal to keep that dude in school, because he’s everything that’s right about our game.”
Just because the elite freshman might like the idea of another year in college, it doesn’t mean he’ll take it. Even with the NIL era and seven-figure potential regardless, Flagg would be making an unprecedented decision if he didn’t enter this year's draft.
Frankly, it would be the most shocking moment of the one-and-done era, and most seem to think this is as much light as that possibility will ever get.
The potential first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, freshman forward Cooper Flagg is in the midst of a potent first season at the collegiate level.
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) February 21, 2025
With that in mind, what are the best seasons by a freshman men's college basketball player? We've rounded up the 10 best. pic.twitter.com/xASRyRXe5V
Flagg firmly remains the top overall target in the 2025 NBA Draft ahead of talents like Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper and VJ Edgecombe, among others. Washington, New Orleans and Utah are currently tied for the best odds to win the No. 1 overall pick, with Charlotte and Toronto rounding out the lottery’s top five.
Entering this final week of February, the Nets still have the seventh-best odds (7.5%) to win the No. 1 selection after winning seven of their 10 games.