Cooper Flagg reveals where his relationship with Duke, Jon Scheyer stands amid NBA career

Cooper Flagg is about a year removed from seeing his time with the Duke Blue Devils come to an end. The eventual No. 1 overall pick played under head coach Jon Scheyer, helping the program make a run to the Final Four. Flagg now calls Dallas home, going through his rookie seasons as a Maverick.

While the two might have gone their separate ways in the basketball world, there is still a relationship between Flagg and Scheyer. Communication remains, even through busy seasons.

“Coach Scheyer, he’s reached out a lot of times throughout the year and we’ve stayed in contact,” Flagg said on Wednesday while joining The Pat McAfee Show. “Obviously, we’ve both been pretty busy.”

Flagg is putting up incredible performances most nights in the NBA, being one of the leaders for Rookie of the Year. Through 64 games played, Flagg is averaging 20.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. He has gone over 30 points on eight occasions. But to really summarize his overall game, 10 double-doubles are on the stat sheet.

As for Scheyer, his 2025-2026 campaign just wrapped up in Durham. Duke was on the wrong end of a historic March Madness moment, losing to UConn thanks to Braylon Mullins. Not exactly a moment anyone associated with the Blue Devils wants to be thinking about at this moment. But still, Scheyer found success with another ACC regular season and tournament championship.

Two games at Cameron Indoor Stadium actually saw Flagg in attendance. Along with his teammates from a season ago, he watched Duke take down Clemson and Syracuse.

“The All-Star break, all of us went back from last year’s team,” Flagg said. “We were all back and watched two games at home. So, we definitely still have that brotherhood and that connection. That will never go away.”

So, you can likely count on Flagg continuing to support Duke in the coming years. Plenty of meetups with his former teammates will take place throughout the NBA calendar as well. The entire starting five from the Final Four team heard its name called in the draft last summer. Flagg is actually battling Kon Knueppel for the Rookie of the Year award.

Scheyer will surely find a way to get involved in the fun as well. Duke continually talks about how close the program is, even through the generations. Keeping the same tradition alive under Scheyer appears to be a priority.