“I thought a Cooper Flagg skin was gonna show up”: College hoops fans react as Duke star partners with Fortnite for new update

Cooper Flagg is arguably one of, if not the most popular freshman recruits in college basketball today. Duke's top recruit caught the eye on social media yet again, fulfilling his end of a partnership with $32 billion worth gaming giant, Epic Games.

The original version of Epic Games' popular battle royale game Fortnite was released recently, and Flagg took to Instagram to react to this. The 17-year-old shared a video of the game, with his caption reading:

"Locked back in #epicpartner."

Flagg's post was flooded with comments from fans and some of his friends within minutes of him uploading the post, who expressed their opinions on Epic Games partnering with the Blue Devils' top recruit. Some thought they were releasing a new skin modeled around Flagg, posting comments to express their wonderment.

Some fans wondered whether Epic Games were releasing a new Cooper Flagg skin on Fortnite.

"Nah I thought a cooper flagg skin was gonna show up," said one fan.

Another fan said, "Where’s your skin??"

"We got cooper flagg posting fortnite before gta 6," added another.

Others, including his high school basketball teammate Liam McNeeley, took to posting challenges and speaking volumes of Flagg's talent.

Liam McNeeley was among a few others who took to challenging Cooper Flagg.

McNeeley wrote, "@theederikqueen @robertwr1ght @asanewell @cooper_flagg boxfights??"

Georgia freshman Asa Newell added, "If cooper flagg is playing… im playing!!!"

"Nah Cooper Flagg will really cook you on the court then go play Fortnite," added a fan.

Cooper Flagg is the highest NIL-earner in college basketball

Per On3, Flagg earns a whopping $2.9 million from NIL deals, making him the highest NIL earner in college basketball. He has a sizeable gap on seniors Kam Jones and Hunter Dickinson, who are tied second with a $2 million NIL valuation.

Cooper Flagg sits pretty at the top of the NIL earners list in college basketball.

While the exact details of his partnership with Epic Games are unknown, Flagg has signed lucrative NIL deals with Gatorade, New Balance and Cort Furniture.

Despite reclassifying from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2024, Flagg topped the class with impressive performances for Montverde High Academy. So far, he has justified the hype in his freshman season at Durham, averaging 16.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists.

He has led Duke to six wins in their opening eight games, including impressive victories over former No. 17 Arizona and most recently, No. 2 Auburn. His performances will be detrimental to the Blue Devils' hopes of ending their national championship drought, with their last NCAA Tournament victory coming in 2015.