The Duke Blue Devils and their national championship hopes may have taken a serious blow with Cooper Flagg going down with an ankle injury in Thursday’s ACC tournament quarterfinal game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
Flagg was injured late in the first half while going up for a defensive rebound. As he landed, he crumpled to the floor in obvious pain after turning his left ankle.
A hushed silence fell over the arena as it was clear that Flagg was in obvious pain. After getting up on his own, the freshman superstar and consensus #1 pick in next year’s NBA Draft needed help from his teammates to get off the floor.
Later, ESPN cameras captured Cooper Flagg visibly upset while sitting on the bench and then being given a wheelchair in the hallway to be escorted back to the locker room.
ESPN shows Duke star Cooper Flagg being taken by wheelchair to get further evaluation on his ankle. #MarchMadness https://t.co/KaO1NljEMz pic.twitter.com/5ThCUy48jb
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 13, 2025
While social media is in a rush to bring up all the Paul Pierce jokes in the world, it was clear as day to see his ankle got twisted in a bad way and he didn’t just need to use the facilities. At least Flagg was able to return to the bench for the second half.
Although Flagg could easily be the top pick in this year’s draft, he has teased the possibility of returning to Duke for his sophomore season and receiving a massive NIL payday. He’s been a big draw for Duke and college basketball, with UNC-Duke ratings last week being one of the most watched games of the season.
We don’t yet know if Cooper Flagg will be able to shake this off or if he will miss any time. But he’s undoubtedly been the top star in college basketball this season. And if he isn’t able to play in the rest of the ACC Tournament, and especially the NCAA Tournament, it won’t just be a blow to Duke. It’ll be a blow to all of college basketball and fans everywhere not to be able to see him play on the sport’s biggest stage.
