“No. 1 Pick in the 2025 NBA Draft!”: Shaquille O’Neal Uploads Reel With a Bronny James Highlight, Hypes Future Potential Draft Pick

Shaquille O’Neal recently disclosed who he believed could be the #1 overall pick of the 2025 Draft on his Instagram Story. Sharing a reel that initially began by featuring the highlights of Bronny James and Bryce James, Shaq displayed his faith in Cooper Flagg. Shaq has been the latest member of the basketball community to hype up the five-star prospect.

Cooper Flagg recently caught the attention of the media during the EYBL Tournament earlier in the year. Since then, Flagg has been highly touted to soon make it to the pros. Despite reclassifying to the Class of 2024, basketball enthusiasts and pundits are almost sure that the 6ft 8” forward will get selected #1 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Shaquille O’Neal believes that Cooper Flagg will be the #1 pick of the 2025 Draft

Shaquille O’Neal shared a reel on his Instagram Story implying that Cooper Flagg was his #1 pick for the 2025 NBA Draft. As seen in the embed below, the narrator talks about Flagg’s physical attributes as a 16-year-old and also highlights some impressive stats from his career. The narrator further said:

“This kid has to be the #1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, but is he as good as people say? I think he’s even better. Cooper Flagg is a 6’ 8”, 16-year-old that just transferred to Montverde Academy where players like Ben Simmons, D’Lo, and RJ Barrett played.

But he’s way better than those guys. He won the Gatorade Player of the Year for Maine in 2022 while averaging an insane 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists per game as a Sophomore. He’s a lockdown defender on triple-double watch every night. What’s not to like.

He really caught attention at the U16 EYBL Circuit, where he averaged 27 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 blocks per game. Yes, you heard that right. He just reclassified from 2025 to 2024, meaning that he is eligible for the 2025 NBA Draft. He instantly became the consensus #1 player in the class of 2024. And almost every mock draft has him going #1 overall in the 2025 Draft.”

O’Neal seems to be a huge fan of the high-school talent. Before sharing this reel on his social media, the TNT analyst also shared highlights of Flagg’s performance at the Rucker Park SLAM Classic.

Flagg is an exciting prospect to keep an eye on. Considering that he will constantly improve different aspects of his game, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see NBA franchises indulge in a tanking war to win the top-most pick of the 2025 Draft.

Can Bronny James make it to the NBA?

Bronny James was making all the right moves to pursue his NBA dreams. Ending high school as a top recruit, Bronny then committed to the University of Southern California to play alongside some of the brightest young talents college basketball has to offer.

Things took an unfortunate turn when LeBron James’ eldest son collapsed during practice. The devastating details of the teenager’s cardiac arrest were soon revealed. Fans thought that Broony would be out for a considerable amount of time, which could end up hampering his NBA goals.

LeBron James has not lost faith in his son. A few social media activities suggest that Bronny could be making his return to the hardwood sooner than expected. It’ll be interesting to see how Bronny progresses over the year. And whether or not he’ll be good enough to get picked in the 2024 NBA Draft.