Presumptive No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg interviewed with the Celtics last week at the NBA Draft combine, an unexpected interaction between the former Duke star and Brad Stevens, Boston’s president of basketball operations. The Celtics hold the 28th pick of the first round and the Dallas Mavericks have no plans to trade away the top selection after winning the lottery.
Stevens addressed why his franchise met with Flagg, college basketball’s Player of the Year last season.
“We can rank who we want to talk to and the people we know we can’t get in to work out is how we decide who we want to talk to at the combine. Otherwise, we may never get to talk to them again,” Stevens said during Boston’s season-ending press conference. “So the only people that will come in and work out for us are the people in our range or maybe they’re at the bottom end of our range or whatever the case may be. That doesn’t really have anything to do with any of that.”
At the end of his answer, Stevens effectively responded to rampant speculation about the Celtics’ interest in Flagg and a potential blockbuster trade scenario.
In short, it ain’t happening.
“Will there be fireworks on draft night? I can’t imagine. But again, who knows? I wouldn’t guess with us, no.”
Celtics star Jayson Tatum suffered an Achilles injury in Game 5 of the team’s second-round playoff series and will have a long offseason of recovery. Jaylen Brown signed a five-year, supermax extension with the franchise ahead of the 2023-24 season.
The rest of the roster, if the Mavericks were interested, would seemingly be expendable in a trade scenario.
Flagg told CBS Sports last summer ahead of his only season with the Blue Devils that he grew up an avid Celtics fan.
“We’d have a couple-hour drive for AAU tournaments and our little Chrysler van had a movie projector that would come down the middle and we’d pop in 85-86 Celtics the whole championship run and watch game by game, playing the whole thing over and over again,” Flagg said. “I think the way they played, the way they got the ball out quickly, moved it down the court, the selflessness and unselfishness on that team of just accepting a role, doing the right things, putting your body on the line, it kind of embodies what a good team has to have. Everyone has to sacrifice something.
“Playing the game the right way will get you a lot farther than trying to do things you can’t or don’t help your team win. That type of influence has been invaluable to me.”
Naturally, Flagg is comfortable in transition and always look to push tempo, which is one of Boston’s staples. The former five-star and No. 1 overall player in the 2024 recruiting cycle declared for the draft in April after leading the Blue Devils to the Final Four as the national Player of the Year.
This news was originally published on this post .
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