It took just one season for Cooper Flagg to leave his mark on the Duke Blue Devils. Now, he has already made a name for himself in the NBA Summer League and is looking toward the regular season at the next level.
However, Flagg's stronghold of the Blue Devil basketball program is far from over. On Wednesday night, Flagg earned yet another honor, making even more history for Duke.
Cooper Flagg wins the Best Male College Athlete ESPY Award
Flagg was awarded the Best Male College Athlete ESPY on Tuesday, becoming just the eighth-ever college basketball player to do so. He joined the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, and more when he received the honor.
Alongside joining the elite few basketball players to win the award, Flagg became the first-ever Blue Devil to receive the title.
Duke Blue Devils nominated for the Best Male College Athlete ESPY
Previously, four Duke athletes had been nominated for the Best Male College Athlete ESPY Award, but all four fell short of taking the award home with them.
- Shane Battier, basketball, 2002
- Jay Williams, basketball 2002
- J.J. Reddick, basketball, 2006
- Brennan O'Neill, lacrosse, 2023
If it's any consolation, the two years that Duke men's basketball players were finalists for the award, non-basketball players went home with the ESPY (Cael Sanderson, wrestling, 2002 & Reggie Bush, football, 2006).
Flagg is already well-versed in the world of winning awards for the Blue Devils, collecting quite the resume of accolades during his one-year tenure at Duke.
Cooper Flagg college accolades
- Best Male College Athlete ESPY Award (2025)
- National college player of the year (2025)
- Consensus first-team All-American (2025)
- Lute Olson Award (2025)
- Julius Erving Award (2025)
- Wayman Tisdale Award (2025)
- NABC Freshman of the Year (2025)
- ACC Athlete of the Year (2025)
- ACC Player of the Year (2025)
- First-team All-ACC (2025)
- ACC Rookie of the Year (2025)
- ACC All-Defensive team (2025)
- ACC All-Freshman Team (2025)
Nobody has denied that Flagg was one of the best athletes in the world this year; the ESPY is just the latest award to acknowledge that fact.