Proposed trade involving Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown, Duke Blue Devils basketball phenom Cooper Flagg not written off

The Boston Celtics were eliminated from the NBA postseason on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, losing in six games to the New York Knicks after losing Jayson Tatum to a ruptured Achilles in Game 4.

Now, Duke Blue Devils basketball phenom Cooper Flagg’s name is coming up in trade talks involving his hometown, or really, the Maine native’s home region team.

And those talks aren’t being immediately dismissed.

SI’s Alex Kirschenbaum openly pondered the possibility of Flagg and Tatum as a tandem for the Cs moving forward.

“Losing the 28-year-old Brown for the 18-year-old Flagg could represent a short-term qualitative dip, but the upside of a Flagg/Tatum tandem going forward is pretty appetizing,” Kirschenbaum wrote.

The Dallas Mavericks have openly stated they won’t be trading the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft. Nico Harrison is the ultimate wild card in the Mavs’ front office, though, so nothing could be written off. Anyone would’ve written off a Luka Doncic-for-Anthony Davis swap, after all.

Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor was skeptical that Harrison could resist.

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

Harrison likely has an edict from ownership not to try anything crazy after getting lucky at the draft lottery drawing.