VJ Edgecombe to 76ers at No. 3 — 8:25 p.m.
The 76ers picked up an electric backcourt option with the third pick, taking Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe — the most exciting pure athlete in the draft — third overall.
A human highlight reel who leaps off the screen, Edgecombe needs some polish on his jumper to thrive at the next level.
Spurs take Dylan Harper at No. 2 — 8:20 p.m.
After weeks of speculation about blockbuster trades, the Spurs opted to stick and pick at No. 2, taking Rutgers star Dylan Harper to add to a busy backcourt in San Antonio.
A crafty pick-and-roll operator and three-level scorer, some evaluators considered Harper in a tier of his own — between Flagg and the rest of the class — in this year’s draft.
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Cooper Flagg goes No. 1 to Mavericks — 8:15 p.m.
It’s official: Cooper Flagg is a Dallas Maverick.
The first No. 1 overall pick from New England since Patrick Ewing in 1985, Flagg has been the presumptive No. 1 pick since he reclassified to reach the NBA a year early, as May’s draft lottery might as well have been the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes.
Flagg lands in a nice spot in Dallas where he won’t be expected to drag a bottom-dweller out of the doldrums, as a team featuring Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson (and eventually Kyrie Irving, who signed an extension this week as he recovers from ACL surgery) will take plenty of pressure off of Flagg.
Still, some pressure remains, as the Maine native is expected to become a star at the next level.
“I’m feeling amazing,” Flagg said after he was selected, standing alongside his family. “It’s a dream come true, to be honest. I wouldn’t want to share it with anyone else.”
The 2025 NBA Draft is underway — 8:00 p.m.
The 2025 NBA Draft has begun, with the Mavericks on the clock and Maine’s Cooper Flagg certain to go No. 1.
After Flagg’s name is called, the draft will really begin, with plenty of uncertainty in the lottery and potential trades in the ether.
Follow along for updates throughout the night.
As Cooper Flagg witnessed, the NBA draft lottery is simply not fair — 7:30 p.m.
By Gary Washburn
Cooper Flagg sat in Chicago among his draft lottery brethren and saw firsthand the unpredictability and unfairness of a system that was supposed to create parity when it was instituted 40 years ago.
The Jazz, Wizards, and Hornets sacrificed their seasons — perhaps a nicer way of saying tanking — for the express purpose of drafting Flagg, the Maine native who is unquestionably the No. 1 prospect in this year’s draft.
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Flagg and the NBA world watched as the Mavericks and Spurs, each of whom had playoff aspirations, ascended up the lottery ladder to the top two picks, with the 76ers grabbing the third selection.
Utah, Washington, and Charlotte each had a 14 percent chance of landing the top pick. Instead, the Mavericks, who altered the direction of their franchise by trading Luka Doncic, can now replace him with another cornerstone.
It’s unfair to the downtrodden teams that they did not get a chance to rebuild but the lottery isn’t fixed. There’s too much at stake and too much technology from the days of the rumored bent envelope that allowed the Knicks to earn the right to draft Patrick Ewing in 1985.
Gasper: Ripple effects of CBA aren’t good for the Celtics or the NBA — 7:15 p.m.
By Christopher L. Gasper
It turns out the Celtics’ greatest threat isn’t another basketball team. It’s not the newly-minted NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder or Kevin Durant joining forces with old friend Ime Udoka’s Houston Rockets or some ascendant Eastern Conference foe. It’s not even the bête noire of Jayson Tatum’s Achilles’ injury.
Nope, their undoing is the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. That’s what broke up this era of Green good feelings with the trade of Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night for Anfernee Simons, two future second-round picks, and precious luxury tax bill savings. Then word broke Tuesday night that Kristaps Porziņģis and his expiring contract were the latest to go in the Parquet Purge.
The Celtics are the canary in the coal mine for this CBA and its prohibitive luxury tax penalties. Can a team field two supermax players (Tatum and Jaylen Brown) and build a perennial title contender with those salaries on the books? Or are they fated to face the hoops Hobson’s choice of sacrificing one of those superstars or the quality of the supporting cast around them?
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Here’s what makes Cooper Flagg an easy call for the Mavericks at No. 1 — 7:00 p.m.
By Gary Washburn
The most distinct aspect of Cooper Flagg’s ascension to the No. 1 overall draft pick at just 18 years, 6 months old is that NBA executives who have evaluated his game for the past five years can’t pinpoint his best attribute.
That’s because consensus on the Maine-born Flagg is that he essentially has no weaknesses. He is the model of consistency and competitiveness, a selfless player who is not only a student of the game but plays the right way, a prototype NBA prospect, as if he was produced by artificial intelligence.
Flagg, a 6-foot-8-inch, 221-pound combo forward, will be the first selection Wednesday by the Mavericks, who were so sold on the former Duke star that they invited him to begin house hunting in the Dallas area and meet with team officials.
Why Newport, Maine, couldn’t be prouder of Cooper Flagg — 6:45 p.m.
By Adam Himmelsbach
In the past year, Maine native Cooper Flagg dominated the US Olympic team in a scrimmage and led Duke to the Final Four. He already has appeared in national commercials, his autographed sports cards have sold for more than $10,000, and on Wednesday the Dallas Mavericks are expected to select him with the No. 1 pick of the NBA Draft.
He could become the league’s first white American superstar since Larry Bird, but he also is only 18 and would just be finishing his senior year at Nokomis Regional High in Newport if he had not moved up a year to accelerate his pro career. It’s been a lot.
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So earlier this month, while living with his family in a Los Angeles rental home and preparing for his rookie season, Flagg asked his parents, Ralph and Kelly, if he could go back to Maine to watch his former school’s graduation.
“He just said, ‘I feel like it’d be fun to go home and celebrate with the kids I grew up with,’ ” Kelly said. “I think he was looking at it as like the finality of his childhood, a full-circle moment to go back where it all started.”
Flagg just needed a burst of home. It has become clear over the years that his town and state needed him, too.
Washburn: Porzingis, Holiday trades free Brad Stevens to build younger, more athletic Celtics — 6:30 p.m.
By Gary Washburn
The retooling of the Celtics roster, with an emphasis on building a more athletic and youthful group around Jayson Tatum when he returns from his Achilles’ tear, began late Monday when Brad Stevens traded Jrue Holiday to the Trail Blazers.
And then Stevens completely cleared the salary cap decks Tuesday when he moved Kristaps Porzingis to the Hawks for the expiring $8.2 million contract of Methuen native Georges Niang in a three-team deal with the Nets.
The Celtics did not want to trade Holiday or Porzingis and they fully intended to keep both for the long term before Tatum’s injury. The second apron of the league’s salary cap was worth the penalty as long as the Celtics were playing into mid-June. Once Tatum was sidelined, the short-term agenda changed, and the blueprint laid out by both the Thunder and Pacers is that the recipe for success in the new CBA is youth, value contracts, and athleticism.
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These are Boston’s first steps in that direction.
Gary Washburn’s mock draft: What happens after Flagg at No. 1? — 6:15 p.m.
By Gary Washburn
The NBA Draft begins Wednesday, and everyone is pretty sure a New Englander will go No. 1 for the first time in 40 years.
Gary Washburn offers up his mock draft, making selections for all 30 picks in the first round, with the Celtics set to pick at No. 28.
1. Dallas — Cooper Flagg, F (Duke). This is a slam-dunk pick. Flagg is a generational talent and the Mavericks need some good PR after that disastrous Luka Doncic trade. Flagg has no weaknesses in his game, as he led Duke to the Final Four as an 18-year-old. Not too many sure things in this draft, but he’s one of them.
Guide to the 2025 NBA Draft: Selection order, key story lines, and more — 6:00 p.m.
By Amin Touri
There shouldn’t be any surprises at the start of this week’s NBA Draft, with Maine’s Cooper Flagg just about certain to become the first No. 1 overall pick from New England since Cambridge’s Patrick Ewing in 1985.
What happens after Flagg’s name is called as the newest member of the Mavericks, however, is anyone’s guess.
With the Spurs holding the No. 2 pick and weighing a couple of Rutgers stars (Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey) or a potential blockbuster trade (with Giannis Antetokounmpo possibly on the move this summer) in a draft loaded with talent at the top, there’s plenty of intrigue.
It could be a big night for the Celtics, too, as Brad Stevens has repeatedly cited the draft as an opportunity to swing some deals for a roster requiring a revamp.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 NBA Draft.
Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com.