Former Duke Star Cooper Flagg Could Break Derrick Rose's NBA Record

During the 2010-11 NBA season, Chicago Bulls legend Derrick Rose won the MVP award at 22 years and 7 months old. He's the youngest MVP in NBA history. 

It's early, but former Duke star Cooper Flagg could break Rose's NBA record. 

Flagg looks like a superstar and he's only in Year 2 in the NBA. The forward is averaging 25.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game this season for the Dallas Mavericks. 

Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game in his lone season at Duke. The Maine native's best college game came against Notre Dame on January 11, 2025. He had 42 points, six rebounds and seven assists.

The Mavericks selected Flagg with the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Flagg played 70 games in his rookie season with the Mavericks. He averaged 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 46.8% from the field, 29.5% from beyond the arc and 82.7% from the free-throw line. 

A future NBA All-Star, Flagg recorded 13 double-doubles last season. He had his best game against the Orlando Magic on April 3. The talented swingman put up 51 points in 33 minutes, becoming the first teenager and the youngest player in NBA history to score at least 50 points in a game.

The Mavericks actually have three players who went to Duke: Kyrie Irving, Flagg and Dereck Lively II. Mike Krzyzewski likely watches a lot of Dallas games in his free time.

Irving appeared in only 11 games for Duke during the 2010-11 season. He averaged 17.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 52.9% from the field, 46.2% from beyond the arc and 90.1% from the free-throw line.

Duke went 32-5 in 2010-11. They lost to Arizona in the West Regional Semifinal.

Irving averaged 17.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in the NCAA Tournament, showing his scoring skills at the highest level of college basketball. 

How good was Irving at Duke? He only needed 11 games to show NBA scouts how special he was, as the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Irving with the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. 

Irving has played for the Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets and Mavericks in the NBA. He won the 2016 NBA championship with LeBron James on the Cavaliers and is one of the top players in NBA history who went to Duke. 

"He just makes it easy to play with him," Flagg said. "Obviously, he's one of the greats of our game. He's an incredible talent, but I think that combined with his personality makes it easy to fit next to and play with him."

Irving entered this NBA season with career averages of 23.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game in the regular season and 23.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game in the playoffs. The 2016 NBA champion averaged 24.7 points and 4.6 assists per game during the 2024-25 season before tearing his ACL.

Thus far this season for the Mavericks, Irving is putting up 18.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. He's shooting 49.1% from the floor, 33.3% from 3 and a perfect 100.0% from the foul line.