This former Duke basketball star helped future Blue Devil Cooper Flagg celebrate award
Already the top recruit in the 2024 class and projected to be the top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Cooper Flagg surprised no one by winning a national honor this week.
Gatorade named Flagg its national boys basketball player of the year on Wednesday, a day after Flagg learned of the award in a surprise visit with Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic.
The 6-9 Flagg signed to play next season at Duke, where he hopes to become the program’s next player selected No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft. Banchero is the most recent former Blue Devil to go No. 1 in the draft, doing so in 2022 after leading Duke to the Final Four during his lone season of college basketball.
Playing at Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida, this season, Flagg spent time with Banchero on Tuesday when the NBA All-Star visited the school. With Flagg and his teammates gathered for a post-practice meeting, Banchero showed up with the trophy sparking a celebration that included Flagg’s family.
“Gatorade Player of the Year winners have become synonymous with greatness, with many athletes going on to become some of the biggest names in sport,” said Gatorade president and general manager Michael Del Pozzo said in a statement. “Flagg is no different, and we look forward to seeing the impact he will make on and off the court.”
Flagg is part of a Duke recruiting class that’s not only ranked No. 1 in for this season but is considered among the best of all time. Flagg joins fellow five-star players Isaiah Evans, a 6-6 forward from from North Mecklenburg High in Huntersville, Kon Knueppel, a 6-5 forward from Milwaukee’s Wisconsin Lutheran, and Khaman Maluach, a 7-2 center from the South Sudan in Africa.
Also joining the Blue Devils to play for coach Jon Scheyer next season are a pair of four-star players from Fairfax, Virginia’s Paul VI High School in 6-6 forward Darren Harris and 6-11 center Patrick Ngongba.
This story was originally published March 28, 2024 at 7:44 AM with the headline "This former Duke basketball star helped future Blue Devil Cooper Flagg celebrate award."