A few years back, when Cooper Flagg was not a basketball phenom, he would get a new pair of shoes every summer at the Skowhegan tent sale. But the Newport, Maine native, not even in his wildest dreams, imagined that one day, shoes bearing his favorite colors might be sold at the same place. That’s the impact of being the No.1 pick in the NBA draft. But Flagg’s journey to Dallas would not have been possible if not for the sacrifices made by his parents, Kelly Bowman Flagg and Ralph Flagg.

Kelly and Ralph, who themselves are former basketball players, passed down their love for the sport to their three sons: Hunter, Cooper, and Ace. Per Cooper’s mom, Kelly, while the basketball phenom played for Duke, her biggest struggle was to navigate attending Duke games as well as Ace’s game with Greensboro Day School. “The first thing I did was kind of put all of the games into see where I was going to be and where I needed to get to, and also to see what were overlapping dates,” Kelly revealed. But scheduling wasn’t the only hurdle—behind the scenes, life for the Flagg family was far more complicated than it appeared.

After Cooper’s entry to the NBA, Kelly and Ralph are focused on Ace’s basketball journey, who this past fall committed to play basketball at the University of Maine. But before that, Kelly opened up about the financial struggles her family had to face while helping their sons pursue their basketball dreams.

On Chime’s Mama, I Made It, when asked about raising a competitive athlete, Kelly admitted, “We didn’t have a lot of money and we stretched the dollar as far as we could to make sure they had everything that they needed to travel out of state, stay in hotels.” From out-of-state trips to hotel costs, the expenses quickly piled up. Cooper looked back on it with a new lens, saying, “It is kind of crazy to think about how they just made so much stuff happen and on the weekends.”

All the AAU trips, to different states, the long drives, the memories came flying back to him! Cooper didn’t forget to give his parents credit for managing things behind the scenes. Then the conversation grew even more personal. His mother reminded him, “You gave up a year of high school to grow up a little bit quicker… not going to the prom…to chase this dream.” of all the sacrifices he made for his dreams to come true. Cooper didn’t deny the loss but embraced the journey.

Basketball meant everything, and winning was always on his mind: “Even though there were sacrifices, I still enjoyed every minute of being with a team and being young and not really caring about anything else.” When his mom asked if it was all worth it, his answer came without pause: “Yeah, I would say it’s all worth it.” In that moment, it was clear: Cooper hadn’t just made it to the league, he had lived every inch of the climb.

Dallas was a far-fetched dream for Cooper Flagg’s father

For a basketball sensation like Cooper, being the No. 1 pick was never surprising. Still, his father never imagined his son would get to play somewhere as big as the Mavs. “Dallas wasn’t even on our bingo card,” Ralph admitted, who was mentally prepared for cities like Charlotte, Washington, or even Utah. These places made sense geographically and emotionally.

These places made sense geographically and emotionally. So when Dallas unexpectedly jumped ahead, it took time for them to process it. Yet Duke coach Jon Scheyer’s words helped shift the narrative. He called it a dream fit for Cooper. And when Cooper learned that Mavericks center Dereck Lively reminded people of his Duke teammate Khaman Maluach, everything started to click into place.

Now that Flagg is set to start his big league journey in the upcoming season, all eyes are on whether the 18-year-old forward will be able to live up to the sky-high expectations or not.