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Duke Shows Up Big With Three Top 10 Picks In The First Round Of The 2025 NBA Draft

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Basketball

Duke continued its historic run in the NBA Draft on Wednesday night at Barclays Center with three Blue Devils - Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach - selected in the top 10, including Flagg as the No. 1 overall pick to the Dallas Mavericks.

Following Flagg as the top choice, Knueppel was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the fourth pick, then Maluach went to the Houston Rockets (traded to Phoenix) with the 10th pick in the first round.

Wednesday marked just the second time in NBA Draft history that three freshmen from the same school were chosen inside the first 10 picks - both times from Duke. This year's trio of Flagg, Knueppel and Maluach joins company with the 2019 class of Zion Williamson (1st, New Orleans), RJ Barrett (3rd, New York) and Cam Reddish (10th, Atlanta). The only other school to have three top-10 NBA Draft picks in the same year was Florida in 2007, with Al Horford (3rd), Corey Brewer (7th) and Joakim Noah (9th).

Flagg, who is the second-youngest (18 years, 186 days old) No. 1 pick in draft history behind LeBron James (18 years, 178 days old) in 2003, is Duke's sixth No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick - twice as many as any other school.

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer now has seven draft picks (six in the first round) in his three years as the Blue Devils' head mentor. Since Scheyer joined the coaching staff in 2013-14, Duke has produced 33 draft picks, including 26 first-round selections.

Among the most prolific college basketball programs in generating NBA Draft picks, Duke's 114 overall selections positions the Blue Devils as one of just four college programs all-time to surpass 100 picks. In the past 10 years, Duke tops the country with 28 draft picks.

Duke in the NBA Draft

  • Duke has produced a total of 114 NBA Draft picks all-time.
  • Duke's 28 draft picks in the past 10 years leads the nation.
  • Duke boasts 59 first-round picks in NBA Draft history, including 26 since Jon Scheyer joined the coaching staff in 2013-14.
  • Duke's 52 first-round selections in the Lottery era (since 1985) are the most in the country.
  • Duke has the most No. 1 overall NBA Draft picks with six - Art Heyman (1963, New York Knicks), Elton Brand (1999, Chicago Bulls), Kyrie Irving (2011, Cleveland Cavaliers), Zion Williamson (2019, New Orleans Pelicans), Paolo Banchero (2022, Orlando Magic) and Cooper Flagg (2025, Dallas Mavericks). Kentucky is second on the list with three.
  • The Blue Devils have had at least one player selected in 26 of the last 28 NBA Drafts, including 15 consecutive years, with 44 first-round picks in that span.
  • The Blue Devils have boasted at least one first-round selection in 14 of the last 15 drafts.
  • Six of Duke's seven NBA Draft selections in three years under head coach Scheyer have come in the first round.
  • With the selections of Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach, Duke extended its streak of at least one freshman drafted to 12 consecutive years.
  • Flagg is the fifth Blue Devil to be selected by Dallas, following in the footsteps of Jay Bilas (1986), Phil Henderson (1990), Cherokee Parks (1995) and Wendell Moore Jr. (2022).
  • Knueppel became the fifth Blue Devil chosen by Charlotte, along with Mark Williams (2022), Vernon Carey Jr. (2020), Frank Jackson (2017) and Gerald Henderson (2009).
  • Maluach joins Erik Meek (1995) as the only two Blue Devil draft picks by Houston.
  • Duke players have been selected by 29 of the 30 current NBA franchises, with only the Toronto Raptors having never drafted a Blue Devil.
  • The franchise to have drafted the most Blue Devils is Detroit with nine, followed by seven for Chicago, six each for Golden State and Boston, and five for Atlanta, New York, Dallas and Charlotte.