The Boston Celtics are about to enter a rebuilding year with Jayson Tatum’s Achilles tear expected to keep him out for the entire 2025-26 season. Their ideal window to tank just passed, with Duke Blue Devils basketball star and Maine native Cooper Flagg expected to be taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft.
Flagg’s New England ties have made a possible union with the Cs a popular rumor this offseason. Things escalated when Celtics President of Basketball Brad Stevens met with Flagg at the scouting combine.
Does Boston have a legitimate chance to land Flagg in a blockbuster deal?
ESPN analyst and former Duke assistant coach Jay Bilas believes the homecoming narrative for Flagg and the Celtics is overblown, considering one of the Indiana Pacers’ all-time legends, Reggie Miller, was from the West Coast.
He also believes the Dallas Mavericks’ stance on not trading Flagg won’t budge with whatever Stevens offers.
“I think that everything's on the table for Boston because of the size of that payroll. And as you know, there's a new ownership, so you're gonna have a what, a $500 million payroll. That’s real money. So I think any team that feels like they're still in a championship window, but with Jason Tatum basically out of the year, that puts everything on the table as to what's the best thing to do long term with that roster and with the assets that they have available. And, you know, that goes to the thought, you know, is Dallas willing to entertain an offer for the number one pick? I can't imagine a package that would be that attractive,” Bilas told me Sunday.
“I think he's a player you keep, reasonable minds may differ on that. But I'm not sure that just, you know, where he grew up, means all that much. When Reggie Miller was drafted, everybody in Indiana wanted Steve Alford. Who cares where Reggie grew up? He actually grew up not far from me. I played against him in high school, but who cares that he was from California? He turned out to be a Pacer for life.”
After LeBron James spurned the Cleveland Cavaliers twice in free agency in 2010 and 2018, and Kevin Durant spurned the Washington Wizards every chance he was given, the homecoming narrative is fading as an Association-wide trope.
With Flagg being a potential franchise pillar for decades to come, the Mavs certainly don’t plan on thinking about the former Blue Devil being anywhere but the DFW.
Bilas provided media availability in advance of the 2025 American Century Championship at the Edgewood Tahoe Resort from July 9-13. Bilas will be one of the 91 competitors in Stateline, Nevada, for the annual celebrity golf tournament.