Former Duke basketball star Cooper Flagg has the support of his passionate family at his side as he prepares for life in the NBA.
Flagg, 18, is the alleged overall choice n ° 1 in the NBA 2025 draft, which means that the national player of the year reigning will hear his name called by the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday June 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
After a sensational first year season in Duke, Flagg officially declared the draft in April.
“Duke fans, my teammates, the brotherhood, all those who were for the trip, it was an incredible year, probably the best year of my life and I have so much gratitude and I feel so blessed for all the opportunities that have been offered to me,” said Flagg in a video published via social media. “Duke has always been a dream for me, but I am delighted to announce that I will enter my name in the draft of the NBA 2025.”
He added: “Today is only the beginning, but I have the brotherhood with me for life.”
In addition, Flagg has his family obsessed with basketball – dad RalphMom Kellybrother Hunter20 years old, and brotherly brotherly brother, AS18 – To thank for having guided him on his way.
Tragically, Ralph and Kelly lost Hunter’s twin brother, Ryder, when they were both prematurely born at only 24 weeks.
“I don’t really remember a time when I was told or something like that,” said Cooper Raleigh News & Observer In December 2024. “It’s just something that has always meant a lot in our family. We talked about it very generally throughout my life. It’s just something terrible that my parents lived and Hunter.”
To find out more about the Flagg family, continue to read.
Cooper Flagg’s father, Ralph Flagg
Ralph attended the Nokomis Regional High School in Newport, in Maine, before playing university basketball at the Eastern Maine Community College.
“Just because we do not produce the great D1 athletes as much as these other states, people do not think that basketball is so great [here]”Said Ralph Athletics In February 2024. “But this is really the case.”
After graduating, Ralph met Kelly – a fierce basketball player herself – while playing in a recreation league with Kelly’s father.
“It was a bit where we met,” said Ralph Athletics. “On a basketball court.”
The couple finally started playing against each other, Ralph recently remembered how Kelly would dominate it with their move from top to bottom.
“She was quite deadly with that,” Ralph told ESPN in November 2024.
When Cooper and his twin brother, Ace, were 15 years old, their supreme basketball talent meant that it was time to leave Maine.
After the boys were recruited by the prestigious Academy of Montverde in Florida, the whole family resumed and moved to the state of Sunshine.
“It was a difficult decision because we are so close to the rest of our community, but at the same time, that’s where we were to be: with our children,” said Ralph Athletics. “To move here was probably the best decision we have made. Just to be here with them, and not lose the last two years that we have with them.”
Cooper Flagg’s mother, Kelly Flagg
During the one And-Done season from Cooper to Duke, Kelly has made a name for herself as much for herself as her son.
Kelly has become an often vocal – and sometimes conflict – supporter in stands adorned with blue and white.
After Duke beat his rival in North Carolina earlier this month, Kelly called Tar Heels fans as a classless kits in an article on Facebook Viral.
In an exclusive interview with US Weekly In March, Kelly joked: “I can tell you that Caroline fans are very upset and unhappy each time they see me on the screen.”
Kelly also attended the Nokomis regional high school before a famous basketball career at the University of Maine.
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She then trained the basketball team for university girls in her Lycée Mater Alma.
“I learned that people should not play with Mama Bear,” Kelly told us about his passion. “Mama Bear can certainly go out, even when I don’t want to. Sometimes I can’t help it.”
She added: “Cooper went with me to school before it started when I was teaching and he was shooting. He wanted to be at the gymnasium at 6 am and shoot an hour before school when he was in 6th, 7th, 8th year. He always put so much that people do not see.”
Cooper Flagg’s older brother Hunter Flagg
Hunter played basketball at the Nokomis Regional High School after a childhood filled with competition matches in the family alley with his two young brothers.
“Someone was still bleeding,” Kelly told ESPN in November 2024.
When Twins Cooper and Ace finally joined Hunter in the Nokomis boys team, their first year, the school won its first state title.
Hunter is currently a junior at the University of Maine, specializing in sport management.
Cooper Flagg’s Fraternal Twin Brother, Ace Flagg
Ace will start his college basketball trip to the University of Maine this fall. (Cooper reclassified in the recruitment class of 2024 so that he could play for Duke last year, so his head start.)
He announced his commitment to be a black bear from Maine – the same school where his mother, Kelly, made a name for himself – in October 2024.
“Go home,” he wrote via Instagram.
In February, ACE won its third consecutive state of state in high school in three different states: Maine, Florida and North Carolina.
Ace goes out with his girlfriend, Lizzy GruberA player of the Maine women’s basketball team since October 2022.
