PIC: Duke star Khaman Maluach shares candid moment with Cooper Flagg's potential teammate
Jon Scheyer's Duke Blue Devils crashed out of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at the Final Four stage after being considered favorites for the national championship. The Blue Devils had one of the most talented rosters in college basketball, including projected No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg and fellow projected first-round picks Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach.
Flagg's NBA future has been one of the most hotly debated topics among fans and analysts as he is expected to be selected by the Dallas Mavericks, who won the draft lottery. The Blue Devils star is expected to team up with former Duke standouts Dereck Lively and Kyrie Irving.
On Sunday evening, Flagg's Blue Devils teammate Khaman Maluach shared a picture on his Instagram stories of himself and Lively joking around from a practice session from last year during a visit by the Dallas star. He captioned it:
"My brother @derecklively," Maluach wrote.
In ESPN's latest draft projection, Khaman Maluach was the No. 7 pick by the New Orleans Pelicans on draft night. Talented Blue Devils guard Kon Knueppel is also expected to be a lottery pick and is projected to be selected No. 8 by the Brooklyn Nets during draft night.
Duke coach hopes Cooper Flagg reunites with ex-Duke star
Former Blue Devils standout Dereck Lively starred under Jon Scheyer before getting drafted No. 12 by the OKC Thunder before being traded to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2023 NBA draft. During a segment on SportsCenter, Scheyer talked about his excitement at the talented Cooper Flagg potentially being teammates with Lively in Dallas due to their shared Duke connection.
"Well, for me the first thing I thought of is that he gets to be with Derek Lively," Scheyer said. "Dereck as a head coach was the first guy to get drafted. So to go from the first lottery pick that I've coached to a guy who I think is going to be the No. 1 pick, it's a pretty special thing to think about those two guys together. Obviously, Kyrie and the Duke connection as well, I think Cooper will be incredible there."
With Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach tabbed to be lottery picks next month, Duke is set to increase its already considerable NBA presence.