Cooper Flagg\u2019s career is managed by a former sixth-grade science teacher of 25 years.<\/p>\n
His mother, Kelly Flagg, added brand manager to her resume when the Dallas Mavericks selected the 6-foot-9 Duke product<\/a> with the No. 1 overall pick in April\u2019s NBA draft.<\/p>\n It is something she is still processing, along with a whirlwind move to Texas to support Cooper in his career after spending 40 years in her hometown of Newport, Maine.<\/p>\n Kelly Flagg partnered with Dr. Scholl\u2019s, the unofficial sponsor of sports moms. Dr. Scholl’s<\/p>\n In just a brief time, she\u2019s gone from the little-known mother of three high school basketball stars \u2014 Hunter, Cooper and Ace Flagg \u2014\u00a0to helping run the career of one of the more hyped NBA prospects in recent memory.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m now kind of managing Cooper\u2019s career, so to speak,\u201d Kelly told The Post while speaking on behalf of her partnership with Dr. Scholl\u2019s<\/a>, a footwear brand spotlighting real moms. \u201cI\u2019m the go-between between the agency and the brand partners and everything. So, I\u2019m sort of his brand manager.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that keeps me very busy, as well as still being mom and playing the mom role \u2026 So, I just try to handle all the day-to-day stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cI taught sixth grade science for 25 years and I retired from that two years ago to move to Florida to be with Cooper and [his twin brother] Ace to support them \u2014 and what was coming along with all the opportunities that they were getting. So, we just felt that it made sense for us to be near them. And I continued on in that role for the last two years.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelly, who taught her three sons as students, is still figuring out what her new normal looks like.<\/p>\n For instance, she rushed home to her new Dallas residence to make this interview because she was shopping for groceries for Cooper\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n Cooper Flagg hugs his mother, Kelly, after being drafted first overall by the Dallas Mavericks during the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft at Barclays Center on June 25, 2025 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Getty Images<\/p>\n Ace, a 6-foot-8 freshman forward, committed to play college basketball<\/a> for the\u00a0Maine Black Bears this fall.<\/p>\n In Cooper\u2019s one year at Duke, he madeat least $28 million through NIL endorsement deals with New Balance and Fanatics, according to ESPN\u2019s\u00a0Howard Bryant<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kelly Flagg as a coach for her sons Ace, Cooper and Hunter as they helped the Nokomis Regional High School basketball team in Maine secure a state championship in 2022. Instagram\/Kelly Flagg<\/p>\n Balancing being mom-ager <\/p>\n Kelly was candid about juggling her role in Cooper\u2019s career and being mom to the 18-year-old basketball phenom.<\/p>\n \u201cI think for most of the time, I\u2019m just mom, and I try to pick and choose the times where we have real conversations about business things,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I\u2019ll say, \u2018Can you give me five minutes? I need to go over the schedule with you and I need you to make some decisions about some things.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI try not to just constantly inundate him with that stu\ufb00 \u2026 I\u2019ll go through an agenda, but try to keep it quick and short because he\u2019s 18 and his attention span is still pretty short for that kind of stu\ufb00.<\/p>\n Cooper Flagg and his family celebrate him being the No. 1 NBA draft pick at Dave & Buster\u2019s Times Square on June 25, 2025 in New York City. Getty Images for Dave & Busters<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest thing is that he makes all the decisions, and that\u2019s important to his dad [Ralph Flagg] and I that this is his business and he\u2019s running the show. We don\u2019t want to make decisions for him that aren\u2019t things that he wants to do. So we always run things by him, and I think that that\u2019s really important. I think sometimes parents can get themselves in trouble where they are making all the decisions and down the road, there can be resentment. And I don\u2019t ever want that to be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelly said she is up for the task of balancing Cooper\u2019s NBA games and Ace\u2019s college games this fall.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll have a rental [home] in Maine during the winter so that we can go back and forth and catch as many of Ace\u2019s games as possible and check in with Hunter,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n She\u2019s not chasing the spotlight<\/p>\n Kelly said she\u2019s still figuring out the newfound attention, even as she lands brand deals of her own, such as Dr. Scholl\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot \u2026 everybody asks me all the time, \u2018How are you handling all of it?\u2019 And quite frankly, I don\u2019t have time to even process what we\u2019ve just gone through in the last few months, because so much is coming at us so quickly that it\u2019s kind of a whirlwind,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut as far as for me, I\u2019ve always been a busy mom. I\u2019ve just been busy in different ways \u2026 as far as being in the spotlight myself, I don\u2019t really feel like I\u2019m in it \u2014 or I try not to be in the spotlight. It\u2019s not something that I\u2019m necessarily chasing. I know I\u2019ve put myself in some situations that have maybe given me more of a spotlight, but I just try to be a supportive mom to all my kids.\u201d<\/p>\n