The elite Duke Blue Devils trio of Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and Khaman Maluach are all highly-touted first-round picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. This year’s draft is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
As they represent coach Jon Scheyer’s program in the draft, NBA Draft uploaded a wholesome video of the three on X on Tuesday, June 24. In the video, Flagg, Knueppel, and Maluach can all be seen photobombing each other’s individual media shoots. Knueppel first comes across Flagg, who was in the middle of his shoot, as the latter invites him for a picture together. Later on, it was Maluach who joined Knueppel’s photoshoot.
Check out the full video below:
Cooper Flagg.
Kon Knueppel.
Khaman Maluach.The Duke trio each spend some time in front of the cameras before the NBA Draft 📸 pic.twitter.com/K21mk40kSP
— NBA Draft (@NBADraft) June 24, 2025
Flagg, Knueppel, and Maluach are all coming off their one-and-done stints of college basketball with the Blue Devils in the 2024-25 season. They finished the year with an overall record of 35-4 (19-1, ACC) and won the ACC regular season championship and the conference tournament title. They eventually made it to the NCAA Final Four of the 2025 March Madness, losing to the Houston Cougars by three points, 70-67.
Flagg, Knueppel, and Maluach have since declared for this year’s NBA Draft, and after individual strong showings in the Draft Combine (May 11 to 18), all three have a fair shot of being a top pick. This holds especially for Flagg, who led the Blue Devils in the five major statistical categories last year, with 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.4 blocks per contest.
On the other hand, sharpshooting Knueppel tallied 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.0 steals a game. Maluach was Duke’s main man in the middle, as he posted 8.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game.
Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Khaman Maluach are projected top 10 picks in the 2025 NBA Draft
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As per ESPN’s latest mock of this year’s NBA Draft, Cooper Flagg is expected to be selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the first overall pick in the first round. Coach Jason Kidd’s team got the pick despite a 1.8% chance of receiving it in the draft lottery.
As for Khaman Maluach, he is projected to be taken with the seventh pick by coach Willie Green’s New Orleans Pelicans, potentially forming a frontcourt duo with Zion Williamson. Kon Knueppel is anticipated to be selected by coach Jordi Fernandez’s Brooklyn Nets just a pick later at No. 8.
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