NEW YORK — Cooper Flagg worked tirelessly in his sophomore history class at Montverde (Fla.) Academy for a big moment in his NBA career: the signing of his coveted Topps Chrome Rookie Debut Patch card. Instead of frantically scribbling notes about United States or world history, the Dallas Mavericks star admitted during Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center on Friday he was actually daydreaming about his own future.“I would just sit there and practice my autograph for the entire class,” Flagg said on stage during an interview with ESPN personality Kevin Negandhi as they unveiled the card. “I have the notebook that had all of the different iterations of my autograph. I’d change it up for a long time and tried to really perfect it.”Flagg signed the most important card of his young NBA career in a private room within the Topps booth just before taking the stage, fulfilling the ultimate payoff to his persistent work during that history class.Cooper Flagg’s Topps NBA Debut Patch card. (Photo courtesy of Topps)“I was a little nervous. I’ve signed a lot of cards, but that one was a little nerve racking,” said Flagg, the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year.Since the highly coveted one-of-a-kind autographed card, which bears the Debut Patch he wore on his Dallas Mavericks jersey during his first NBA game, is too precious to risk damaging in a pack, a placeholder redemption card will be randomly inserted in a pack of 2026 Topps Chrome Basketball Update Series in its place. That set will hit hobby shops and retailers on Aug. 6.