The No. 1 overall seeded Duke Blue Devils look to continue their March Madness run, taking on the No. 4 Arizona Wildcats on Thursday evening.
Duke is having a sensational season so far, and much of the credit goes to its star forward, true freshman Cooper Flagg. The 6-foot-9 stud leads the Blue Devils with 18.7 points per game, including 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.
What you may not know about Flagg is that he is quite young for his age, having just turned 18 in December. Let’s take a look at how Flagg was able to get NCAA eligibility before he turned 18.
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How old is Cooper Flagg?
Cooper Flagg turned 18 years old in December of 2024.
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Cooper Flagg birthday
Cooper Flagg was born on Dec. 21, 2006 in Newport, Maine.
Why did Cooper Flagg leave high school early?
Flagg was initially supposed to still be playing in high school during the 2024-25 season. But instead, he reclassified in 2023 to the 2024 recruiting class so that he could join Duke a year earlier.
As long as student-athletes graduate from high school, they are allowed to reclassify to a sooner recruiting class in order to start sooner with their respective schools.
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Cooper Flagg college eligibility
Since Flagg is only a true freshman this year, he has three years remaining of eligibility within the NCAA. But since he is free to go to the NBA after this season, the expectation is that he will declare for the NBA draft in a few weeks. But we’ll get into that a bit later.
Cooper Flagg twin brother still in high school
In fact, there’s not just one Flagg brother, but two playing basketball. Cooper has a twin brother, Ace. Per 247Sports, Ace is a 3-star recruit, ranked as the 61st power forward and No. 20 overall player out of North Carolina. In October 2024, Ace verbally committed to the University of Maine, where his mother, Kelly Bowman-Flagg, also played basketball. The Flagg brothers grew up in Maine, and Ace played his senior year of high school at Greensboro Day School.
Cooper is two inches taller than Ace, who checks in at 6-foot-7, 180 pounds. Cooper also weighs about 25 pounds less than his twin brother.
Freshmen to win Naismith Award
Flagg was named a finalist for the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, given out annually to the top men and women’s basketball players each year. Flagg was named a finalist for the award earlier this week, alongside Auburn’s Johni Broome, Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. and Purdue’s Braden Smith.
If Flagg takes home the award, he’ll join freshmen such as Texas’ Kevin Durant in 2007, Kentucky’s Anthony Davis in 2012 and Duke’s Zion Williamson in 2019 to win it.
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Will Cooper Flagg go to the NBA?
Flagg has not yet made an official declaration for the 2025 NBA Draft. Although he has stated that he wants to come back to Duke next season, he is considered a lock for the No. 1 overall pick if he does declare. Not to mention if Flagg doesn’t come out this year, he’ll likely miss out on a ton of money. That’s thanks to the estimated NBA salary cap numbers, via ESPN’s Bobby Marx:
ESPN’s Bobby Marks projects that Flagg returning to Duke could cost him, based on estimated cap numbers, $75 million to $125 million in potential salary on the backend of his NBA career since he would delay the start of his service clock for his second and third pro contracts. Players with 10 years of service are eligible for a supermax deal, a type of contract extension in which teams can give eligible players up to 35% of the total cap space allotted to that team for up to five years.
Even ahead of Duke’s Sweet 16 game, Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer indicated that Flagg is going to move on.
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Youngest No. 1 draft picks in NBA history
If Flagg does enter the draft as expected, he’ll be one of the younger players drafted in NBA history. When LeBron James was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003, he was 18 years and 178 days old. In 2004, the Orlando Magic selected Dwight Howard No. 1 overall when he was 18 years and 198 days old.
On draft night, Flagg will be 18 years and 186 days old on draft night.
Gilbert McGregor contributed to this research.
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