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Cooper Flagg might be one of the most recognizable players in basketball, but ESPN seemed to have trouble recognizing him.
In a hilarious moment that occurred live during ESPN’s “SportsCenter” broadcast ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday night, anchor Elle Duncan went to talk about the Duke star walking the draft red carpet, but instead the video that came up was not of Flagg.
“Welcome back to SportsCenter, you’re looking at Cooper Flagg and in just over an hour from now,” she started to say as video panned up to reveal Ace Bailey.
“That is not Cooper Flagg at all, actually. That is quite famously Ace Bailey,” Duncan continued as they transitioned to another video of who the ESPN anchor thought was Flagg.
Again, it was not.
“There’s Cooper Flagg! I was gonna say, a lot of—no, that’s not him either. That’s not Cooper Flagg either,” she said.
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Instead, they showed Dylan Harper on the red carpet for the second flop in a row.
While Duncan kept her cool, she didn’t sound too enthusiastic about the back-to-back errors with the clips.
Flagg was taken No. 1 overall by the Mavericks at Barclays Center.
Dallas shockingly landed the No. 1 overall pick at the draft lottery in May after blowing up the league with the shocking Luka Doncic trade.
The Duke product had long been expected to be the top pick this year and had been the center of attention in college basketball for the entire 2024-25 season.
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