For the second straight year, the ESPY Awards brought some more acclamation for Cooper Flagg.

Flagg, a Newport native and Dallas Mavericks rookie, was named the Best College Athlete in Men’s Sports at the ESPYs on Wednesday night following his freshman season at Duke. Last year, he was named the Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year at the annual show.

Flagg, a former Nokomis Regional High standout as a freshman, is the first basketball player to win the award since 2016, when Buddy Hield took it after his senior year at Oklahoma.

Flagg’s first and only year at Duke became the talk of the nation in college basketball. He led the Blue Devils in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals, finishing with averages of 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. He won the Wooden Award as the best player in college basketball while leading Duke to the Final Four.

The performance led to Flagg, 18, being selected first overall by the Mavericks at the NBA Draft in June. According to Spotrac, Flagg’s four-year rookie deal with Dallas is in the range of $62.7 million.