On paper, the Knicks appear closer to championship contention. But Dallas has something New York doesn’t: Cooper Flagg. While the Knicks won’t make a selection until the late second round, the Mavericks are adding a player who hasn’t drawn this much hype since Zion Williamson.

Cooper Flagg is expected by many to be one of the next great players in NBA's long history. But not everyone feels that way. After one year at Duke the 18-year-old phenom was drafted first overall by the Dallas Mavericks.

Cooper Flagg hadn’t even announced that he would play for the Duke Blue Devils when NBA scouts already deemed him the consensus first-overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. His lone season with the Blue Devils only confirmed that. He was the most spectacular player in all of college basketball last season, and it wasn’t particularly close.