The schools who have produced the second- and third-most first-round NBA Draft picks over the years — Duke and North Carolina with 56 and 54, respectively — face off Saturday in one of college basketball’s most storied rivalries from Durham, North Carolina. And as you might expect, future pros are scattered about both rosters.
Duke freshman Cooper Flagg is the headliner who will draw the most attention after his recent surge — and Duke’s coinciding nation-long winning streak — has catapulted him into frontrunner position for National Player of the Year. But Flagg, the early favorite to go No. 1 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft, is far from the only talent who will be playing inside Cameron Indoor who has real NBA talent.
In fact the list of prospects is nearly a dozen deep from both schools, with the list comprised mostly of Duke players but featuring several potential first-rounders from UNC as well.
Cooper Flagg, No. 2 Duke take aim at North Carolina
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There should be plenty of attention on this game in particular not just because of the rivalry, or because of Duke’s 14-game winning streak, or even because Flagg’s fabulous game. With the All-Star break coming up in the NBA, teams — like the slumping Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz, New Orleans Pelicans and Charlotte Hornets — may (understandably) be looking ahead to see what type of talents may be available to them at the top of this summer’s draft.
What they’ll find when they watch the game this weekend should excite them.
Here are the eight biggest names to know in the game that will serve as a cheat sheet and watch guide to satisfy all your NBA Draft wants and needs.
1. Cooper Flagg | Duke | 6-9, 205
The No. 1 prospect in this weekend’s game and the No. 1 prospect in the 2025 class until proven otherwise. Flagg has outperformed even the lofty expectations that he carried to Durham in his freshman season at Duke. He leads the team in points, rebounds, assists and blocks on a team with the No. 6 offense and No. 3 defense in adjusted efficiency margins at KenPom. His own efficiency numbers have been stellar, too: He leads all major conference players in Win Shares and is second nationally in Box Plus/Minus.
For as brilliant as Flagg has been — and he has indeed been precisely that! — Knueppel has more than held up his end of the bargain as the perfect sidekick in Durham. EvanMiya.com lineup data has Knueppel as the leader in on-off margin splits ahead of Flagg, with the team 10.3 points per 100 possessions better when he is on the floor vs. when he is off. He’s a crafty two-way guard shooting 39.7% from 3 and averaging 13.1 points and 2.6 assists per game.
3. Ian Jackson | North Carolina | 6-4, 190
The shot-making and smooth skills of Jackson has him into our first-round projections after a slow start to the season. The Bronx-raised five-star recruit had a stretch of games in late December and early January where he scored 24, 26, 23 and 27 games consecutively, but he’s cooled off lately. Still, he’s showed encouraging development for a freshman in an environment full of dysfunction, including hitting 42.5% on 3s and rating out in the 82nd percentile in catch and shoot situations, per Synergy Sports data.
With a 25.2 Player Efficiency Rating, Maluach rates as the second-most efficient player on Duke’s team behind only Flagg. He is averaging just 20.2 minutes per game and 8.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per contest in that time, but he’s a lanky center with rare movement skills and instincts. There’s a lot of excitement surrounding Maluach and what he can be in a few years as he polishes off some of his game and grows into his athleticism.
Proctor is not the prospect some (me — guilty) once viewed as a lottery talent and potential lead guard. But he has become a serviceable two-way guard and developed in his time at Duke into a knockdown shooter who can facilitate, add length on defense and make open looks at a reasonable clip. He rates as a 77th percentile jump shooter this season — a career-high for him — and he looks like someone who can project to be a bench piece in the NBA with two-way versatility.
6. Drake Powell | North Carolina | 6-6, 195
The counting stats (6.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 0.8 assists per game) don’t do justice to the impact — and efficiency — he’s turning in right now for UNC. Synergy Sports data rates him in the 73rd percentile as a jump shooter, 76th percentile in catch and shoot, 68th percentile finishing at the rim, 82nd percentile on shots inside 17 feet and 74th percentile on 3s — all of which qualify as “very good” in its database. Those are all encouraging developmental checkpoints for a prospect whose best trait is on the other end as a long multipositional defender.
Evans has played 10 or fewer minutes in five of Duke’s last seven games. But that’s a testament to Duke’s depth, I’d argue, as opposed to an indictment on Evans specifically. When given the chance he’s displayed his length and scoring prowess that made him a five-star prospect, with explosions of 16 points vs. Boston College and 18 points vs. No. 2 Auburn among the reasons to continue holding out hope for him. He’s just outside my first round projections right now but a very interesting prospect who could raise up boards if he works his way into a bigger role with this team.
8. Sion James | Duke | 6-6, 220
A five-year college player who began his career at Tulane before transferring to Duke as a graduate student, James has assumed the role of Duke’s starting point guard and made the Blue Devils one of the most lethal offenses in the country in the process. He’s averaging a career-best 22.1% assist rate and knocking down 37.1% on 3-pointers. His bulldog defense and shooting consistency could get him some serious looks this summer in the NBA Draft.
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