Celtics Meet Cooper Flagg at Draft Combine: Secret Plan To Land Hometown Star?

The NBA world was stunned on Monday when the supposedly random NBA draft lottery ended with the Dallas Mavericks drawing the No. 1 pick in the June 25 draft – despite going into the lottery with a mere 1.8 percent chance of landing the top draft position.

The two teams with the best percentage chances of winning the top pick, the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards with 14 percent, ended up with the fifth and sixth draft spots, respectively.

The lottery results drew quite a bit of skepticism around the NBA, given the fact that less than four months earlier the Mavericks had inexplicably traded away their superstar, 25-year-old Luka Doncic, swapping the Serbian native to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Was the shocking lottery result the NBA’s way of paying back Dallas for sending its star player to Los Angeles? That was the conspiracy theory, anyway. But one thing that was known — the Mavericks won the right to draft the consensus best player in the draft, 18-year-old Duke University star Cooper Flagg.

Could Flagg Take the Eli Manning Route to Boston?

Flagg, however, hails from the state of Maine, and he grew up as an ardent Celtics fan. His mother Kelly Flagg, herself a former standout women’s college basketball player, is perhaps an even more devoted Celtics fan. Would he somehow force his way out of Dallas and into Boston?

That was the theory put forward by Yahoo! Sports podcast host Kevin O’Connor on his Friday podcast — a theory sparked by reports that the Celtics chose to interview Flagg at this week’s NBA draft combine in Chicago.

Teams are limited to just 13 interviews at the combine. The Celtics hold the 28th overall pick, so it would seem that interviewing Flagg would be a waste of one of their interview slots.

O’Connor speculated that Flagg, rather that simply acquiescing to play for Dallas, would “pull an Eli Manning,” and inform the Mavericks that he would refuse to play for them.

Manning was the consensus No. 1 NFL draft pick in 2004, when the then-San Diego Chargers held the top pick.

But Manning let the Chargers now that he did not want to play for their team. Though San Diego drafted him anyway, they quickly traded him to the New York Giants where he spent his entire career.

“Boston calls [Dallas GM] Nico [Harrison] and they offer Jaylen Brown,” O’Connor said on his podcast. “And how many first-round picks is it gonna take? … I just wonder if Dallas and their entire decision-making unit would listen.”

Celtics Expected to Trade Top Players

The Celtics due to their salary cap situation and high payroll, are expected to make some dramatic personnel moves in the offseason. Center Kristaps Porzingis has been widely expected to be on the move as Boston takes steps to shed payroll. But would the Celtics trade Brown?

With four-time All-NBA first-teamer Jayson Tatum, the Celtics’ franchise superstar, sidelined for what may be the entire 2025-2026 season with an Achilles tendon tear, Brown immediately becomes the best and most important player on the Celtics.

Even O’Connor, however, had to admit that a Celtics trade up the top draft position appears unlikely.

“I don’t see Dallas moving Cooper Flag for a Jaylen Brown at that point,” said on the podcast. “If you’re have the opportunity to move Cooper Flag, I don’t think it’s going to be for Jaylen Brown.”