Former Duke duo Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel narrowly miss out on historical Kareem Abdul-Jabbar record

Former Duke stars Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel were picked early in the 2025 NBA draft. Flagg went to the Dallas Mavericks with the No.1 pick, while the Charlotte Hornets picked Kon Knueppel with the No. 4 selection.

The former Duke duo narrowly missed out on a historic record for being the highest-drafted college teammates. The record was set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lucius Allen when they were drafted in 1969 after leaving UCLA.

Abdul-Jabbar was the No.1 pick taken by the Milwaukee Bucks while Allen was the No.3 pick taken by the then-Seattle SuperSonics. Abdul-Jabbar won three national titles with the Bruins, while Allen won two national titles during his time in college.

Abdul-Jabbar went on to win six NBA championships during his career. He won one title with the Bucks and five with the LA Lakers. Allen won the NBA title with the Bucks in 1971, when he was teammates with Abdul Jabbar.

Flagg and Knueppel will be aiming to have similar career trajectories as Abdul-Jabbar and Allen, or even better.

How did Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel fare in the 2024-25 season with Duke?

NCAA Basketball: Cooper Flagg (L) and Kon Knueppel in action for Duke - Source: Imagn

Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel played together for one season at Duke. Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game across 37 appearances. He won several honors and was named the National College Player of the Year.

Knueppel averaged 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game across 39 appearances. He was named to the second-team All-ACC and was the ACC tournament MVP. Flagg and Knueppel led Duke to the ACC regular season title and the conference tournament title. The Blue Devils entered the NCAA Tournament with a No.1 seed.

Duke was the favorite to win the national title, but lost to Houston in the Final Four. It will be interesting to see how the Blue Devils fare without Flagg and Knueppel next season.

Edited by Chaitanya Prakash