The 2024 NBA draft hadn’t even fully stopped yet before people started looking to 2025.
Next year’s class is expected to be one of the best in recent memory with franchise-changing players up and down the board. According to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, however, none are more enticing than [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag].
Givony revealed his early top five prospects for the 2025 cycle on Thursday afternoon, immediately after the conclusion of the 2024 draft, and he put Flagg atop the list. The consensus No. 1 player in the Class of 2024 will begin his collegiate career in Durham later this fall, leading a class of five other top-40 freshmen.
As a 6-foot-9 forward with eye-popping athleticism, Flagg is viewed as a class-defining athlete who dominates on the defensive end. The word ‘generational’ keeps getting thrown around for the star who led Montverde Academy to an undefeated season as a senior. He’s the highest-rated Duke commit in program history, according to 247Sports.
Two Rutgers commits, Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, followed Flagg in second and third.
Next year's draft class is DEEP 🔥 pic.twitter.com/emGqaq0Ds1
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 27, 2024
It isn’t just Flagg’s physicality winning scouts over, however. Duke head coach Jon Scheyer praised him as a competitor with a constant motor, a trait the Blue Devils built their 2024-25 team around.