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00:00Again, elsewhere around the association, outside of the playoffs, for a handful of teams, 14 of the 30 in the NBA, they are focused on the future.
00:10A lot of people focused on one guy.
00:14That would be Cooper Flagg.
00:15He took his time at the end of Duke's season, of course, reaching the Final Four, but losing in that comeback effort against Houston to declare when officially he would enter the NBA draft.
00:27Because of a little bit of a layoff, DRS, there was maybe some budding speculation that was Cooper Flagg considering a return to Durham?
00:37Not exactly.
00:39Officially and obviously it happened yesterday.
00:43Cooper Flagg has declared for the 2025 NBA draft he is going to be the first overall pick.
00:49The question is now, which ping pong balls fall in the favor of which NBA organization to draft Cooper Flagg a generational prospect at the top of this summer's NBA draft?
01:00And you know what's interesting about this, too?
01:02Because we took him so long at this point.
01:05You have to understand how talented and how good Cooper Flagg is and the amount of money, regardless of leaving college next year, he will accumulate through his 15 to 20-year NBA career, let's just say.
01:15But also, some of these guys generally just say, you know what, the money will be there.
01:19You got to get there quicker.
01:20You got to get there quicker to get to that second contract.
01:22That's the way things work.
01:23They just take a step back and say, well, I'm really enjoying this.
01:25Like, love my head coach.
01:27Love the coaching staff.
01:28The Duke community is so much fun.
01:30Like, all my roommates, like, I might want to come back for one more year because it's unfinished business.
01:34You could also argue that.
01:36He's saying, you know what, I might feel like I let down the Duke, you know, brotherhood, as we like to say.
01:40We were supposed to win this championship and we didn't get it done.
01:43How great would it be if I came back and just, you know what, I'm going to write this ship here and go down as an ultimate Duke legend that said, I was fantastic my freshman year.
01:51I came back as a sophomore to conquer some of those demons and got it done here, then went to the NBA.
01:56But, yes, from a business standpoint, he should not be staying in college another year because, look, the NIL could get him $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $9 million.
02:03That's still not going to accomplish as much as getting to that second contract quicker in the NBA and the shoe deals that he's going to get right out of the gate anyway.
02:09So, for me, I understand why it took some days because he probably was weighing even though he knew he was going to the NBA.
02:14Boy, I don't want to make the decision now.
02:16Let me take a couple days and think about this and decompress.
02:18Like, I love Duke and I would love to come back, but what's the best for my future?
02:22And it is going to the NBA, to be honest.
02:25Again, there was some conversation, but the reality of that ever happening was zero.
02:30There was some conversation during the college basketball season after Cooper Flagg said, man, I love Duke.
02:36I would love to be back for another year.
02:37People are like, oh, my God, he's coming back.
02:39It's like, no, he's just happy where he is, and he is playing good basketball for a generational team.
02:45But Cooper Flagg was always going to go to the NBA draft after only one year with the Blue Devils, and that has been made official.
02:52And Cooper Flagg is worthy of this kind of speculation.
02:55Cooper Flagg is worthy of this kind of notoriety.
02:58He has been the presumed number one pick even before he entered the collegiate ranks coming from Maine.
03:05Better than 19 points and seven and a half boards in his time in his freshman year in Durham.
03:11Donnie, he was every bit the billing that we expected this guy to be during his first and only season collegiately.
03:18I mean, a white kid from Maine at 17 years old cooking NBA talent, like the best of the NBA, like everything about him doesn't make sense.
03:28Like to be this talented and hold up to those expectations, I just wish he was able to win that championship and say, you know what?
03:34I was one of the best players ever.
03:35Like we talk about, you know, Syracuse and Carmelo Anthony.
03:37Like he might have been viewed a little bit differently had he not won his freshman year.
03:41But this guy came on campus, won a national championship for the Cuse and moved on.
03:44And everybody's like, man, that's the way you do it.
03:46Like I'm sure Cooper Flagg looks back and says, in 15 years, loved my time at Duke.
03:50But man, it would have been nice to complete that journey and put a ring on my finger and just go down as one of the best.
03:55And now granted, he is one of the best ever to play at Duke.
03:57But back in the day where he got two, three, four, sometimes a red shirt freshman fifth year in NCAA college basketball to put up all those statistics.
04:05He didn't do that.
04:06He had one chance to get that ring and couldn't do it.
04:08But everything about Cooper Flagg has been amazing for the past two to three years.
04:12And good luck in the NBA.
04:13And I'm sure he'll do quite fine.
04:14Two summers ago, Victor Wimbanyama was a minus 100,000 favorite to be the first overall selection.
04:21Cooper Flagg is going to have a similar price.
04:24So the question is not, does Cooper Flagg go number one overall?
04:27But which team is drafting first overall?
04:30NBA draft lottery in just about three weeks.
04:33May 12th.
04:34The teams that finished with the 14% chance.
04:37The best opportunity to do so.
04:39The Hornets.
04:40The Wizards.
04:41The Jazz.
04:41But DRS has his eyes squarely on the team with the fifth best price.
04:46The Philadelphia 76ers at 5-1.
04:49Cooper Flagg to Philly.
04:51Could it possibly happen, Donnie?
04:53Yeah.
04:53Look, real quick.
04:54Put that graphic back up here.
04:55I need it up here for a second.
04:57If we're talking about the NBA, we love Luke in L.A.
04:59The Jazz get out of town.
05:00They should be a collapsed franchise.
05:01The Wizards, the worst franchise in NBA history.
05:03The Hornets, absolutely horrendous from the Jordan era.
05:06The Pelicans are meaningless.
05:07Then you get to the Sixers, and the Nets are meaningless.
05:10There's one team there that has an actual history in the NBA.
05:13It's the Sixers.
05:14They need Cooper Flagg.
05:15They deserve Cooper Flagg.
05:18Waited ping pong balls?
05:19Now or two up next?