According to [Shams Charania and Jonathan Givony of ESPN](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45474210/sources-mavericks-work-cooper-flagg-june-17), the Dallas Mavericks are bringing in Cooper Flagg for a workout, and he is the only guy they will be welcoming for a pre-draft workout. “The Mavericks have no plans to work out any other prospects for the No. 1 pick and have made clear publicly and privately that they plan on selecting Flagg when Adam Silver puts them on the clock to open the 2025 NBA Draft,” they wrote.
For Boston Celtics fans still clinging onto the hope that Nico Harrison will trade the first pick, landing the Maine-native Flagg back in New England, this rumor just brought them crashing back down to reality.
Flagg will be a Maverick.
**Where did Cooper Flagg-Celtics rumors come from?**
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Obviously, Flagg is from New England. The soon-to-be first-overall pick is from Maine and has lifelong ties to the area. Any Celtics fan looking to enjoy the lore of a local kid playing for his hometown team should want Flagg to play in green and white.
Unfortunately, he’s far too talented for that to be a possibility right now. The Mavs won this year’s draft lottery, and Flagg is the consensus No. 1 pick. They would be foolish to pass up on the chance to select him.
When Boston brought Flagg in for a pre-draft interview, fans went nuts. Unfortunately, at his end-of-season press conference, Brad Stevens [shut down the chaos](https://hardwoodhoudini.com/boston-celtics-tipped-2025-nba-draft-hand-cooper-flagg-came-up-brad-stevens) pretty quickly.
“So, the way that this works is we can rank who we want to talk to," Stevens said. "The people we know we can’t get into work out is how we decide who we want to talk to at the combine. Otherwise, we might not ever get to talk to them again. The only people that’ll come in and work out are people who think they’re in our range, or in the bottom of our range, whatever the case may be. So that doesn’t really have anything to do with any of that. ‘Will there be fireworks on draft night?’ I can’t imagine, but, who knows? I wouldn’t guess with us, no.”
**Why would the Mavs trade Cooper Flagg?**
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The simple answer is, they wouldn’t. Any team that won this year’s draft lottery was going to take Flagg. He’s that good of a prospect.
However, just a few months ago, Harrison did the impossible and traded Luka Doncic—to the Los Angeles Lakers, of all teams. So, when the Mavericks won the lottery, everyone began speculating whether or not Harrison could make a massive mistake twice.
Based on Charania and Givony’s reporting, it doesn’t sound like that sort of thing is on the table.