Cooper Flagg capped his freshman season at Duke with 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game, sweeping ACC Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards and earning him National College Player of the Year honors.
With such credentials, Flagg has been the consensus No. 1 pick in mock drafts for months.
Leading up to the 2025 NBA draft, Flagg made an appearance at the AT&T Flaggship Experience in Times Square, an event designed to celebrate rising sports stars with interactive games and fan meet-and-greets.
Afterwards, he made a post on Instagram captioned, "They say it takes a village. Mine showed out at the Flaggship Experience @att," alongside family members, his former Blue Devil teammate Khaman Maluach and TikTok star The Rizzler.
Yet it wasn’t just the cast of characters around him that stole the spotlight; it was his facial hair.
For the first time in his public career, Flagg sported a subtle goatee, prompting an outpouring of fan reactions.
"Cooper with facial hair ð¯ league is cooked genuinely," said one fan.
"That peach fuzz came in real fast," one other user commented.
"When did lil bro grow facial hair???" commented another fan.
"We love you cooper just please shave the goatee before tomorrow!!" responded one other user.
"goatee coop," replied another fan.
"When did bro get facial hair ðð," said one other commenter.
Cooper Flagg
Duke Blue Devils forward Cooper Flagg (2) dribbles the ball against Houston Cougars forward Ja'Vier Francis (5) during the second half in the semifinals of the men's Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
© Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Industry analysts uniformly project Flagg to go No. 1 overall to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavericks secured that pick in a stunning lottery win, despite holding just a 1.8% chance.
They will make the first overall selection when the 79th NBA Draft convenes at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday.