NBA Rookie Cooper Flagg and Duke Star Arianna Roberson Confirm Romance
Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg and Duke women's basketball star Arianna Roberson are officially official.
Roberson, 20, and Flagg, 19, both confirmed their relationship via their social media channels on Thursday, May 14. Roberson went first, posting a TikTok video of the two of them, which she captioned, "Carry on…"
In the video, she and Flagg stood in front of the camera as Flagg took Roberson by the hand and twirled her around. It then cut to a variety of clips of the pair on a recent vacation in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
An hour later, Flagg shared a photo of himself and Roberson kissing via his Instagram Story.
Rumors have circulated for several weeks that the two are an item, stemming from Roberson sitting with Flagg's family during his Rookie of the Year press conference in late April.
They fueled the speculation by posting photos separately from the same location in Turks and Caicos via their Instagram Stories on Saturday, May 9. Those posts have long since expired, but the New York Post captured screenshots and shared them that day.
Flagg and Roberson overlapped during the Mavericks sensation's lone college season. He suited up for the Blue Devils in 2024-25, where he was named national Player of the Year and led Duke to an appearance in the Final Four.
The Mavericks then took him as the top overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and he didn't disappoint, averaging 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.
Roberson, meanwhile, sat out the 2024-25 season with an injury, but as a redshirt freshman this past campaign, she averaged 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds, helping Duke advance to the Elite Eight of the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
She is also the sister of former NBA guard Andre Roberson, who spent seven years in the league and now plays professionally in Russia.
While Roberson continues to make a name for herself in the ACC, Flagg has been under the media microscope since he was a high schooler. His mom, Kelly, spoke to Us Weekly during the 2025 NCAA Tournament about the road that Cooper and his brother, Ace, have taken to college basketball. (Ace just finished his freshman season playing for Kelly's alma mater, the University of Maine.)
"I'm just so passionate about these boys and what they're doing," Kelly told Us. "I know how much they want it and I know how hard they've worked for it. I know the hours that have gone into it."
She added, "Cooper used to go with me to school before it started when I was teaching and he would shoot. He wanted to be in the gym at 6 a.m. and shoot an hour before school when he was in 6th, 7th, 8th grade. He's always put so much into it that people don't see."
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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 12:50 PM.