How likely are Celtics to trade up for a lottery pick in NBA Draft? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Let’s start with the obvious: The Boston Celtics almost certainly aren’t trading for Cooper Flagg.
But their work at the 2025 NBA Scouting Combine in Chicago — which reportedly included interviewing the Duke star and projected No. 1 pick — might provide some insight into how they’re approaching the 2025 NBA Draft.
Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor reported last week that Boston conducted interviews with both Flagg and Texas guard Tre Johnson (a projected top-five draft pick) at the Draft Combine. On a recent episode of NBC Sports Boston’s Arbella Early Edition, O’Connor confirmed the Celtics also spoke to Georgia forward Asa Newell, who projects as a top-15, late-lottery selection.
The C’s currently have picks No. 28 and 32 in the 2025 NBA Draft. So, why are they speaking with players who are seemingly out of their range? O’Connor shared his insight on Early Edition.
“You rank the guys you want to talk to,” O’Connor said. “The way it works at the Draft Combine in Chicago is, you rank the players you want to talk to, and the teams that have the players ranked the highest get the opportunity to talk to those guys.
“Each prospect can talk to up to 13 teams, so the Celtics may have had Cooper Flagg ranked second or third in their rankings of prospects. So, it’s not the biggest deal in the world they got to talk to him. But I do think it’s interesting they talked to at least three guys who could be drafted in the lottery.
“They talked to Cooper Flagg, likely No. 1, they talked to Tre Johnson, likely a top-five pick out of Texas, and then Asa Newell, a big man out of Georgia, a late-lottery pick, mid-first-round draft pick. So, they talked to at least three guys in theory they’d have interest in.
“You’re not going to talk to somebody if you don’t like the player.”
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens downplayed Boston’s reported interview with Flagg earlier this week, explaining that the team’s goal with these interviews is to gather general intel on players who normally wouldn’t come to Boston for in-person workouts with the team.
“The people we know who we can’t get in to work out is how we decide who we want to talk to. Otherwise, we may never get to talk to them again,” Stevens told reporters Monday. “So, the only people that come and work out for us are the people that think they’re in a range or bottom of our range, or whatever the case may be.”
Stevens also downplayed the possibility of “fireworks” in the form of a trade up on draft night, and Boston would have to give up a massive haul to jump from No. 28 into the top five. A move into the 13-15 range might be more feasible, however, especially if the Celtics see potential in a player like Newell.
At 6-foot-10 and 225 pounds, the Georgia product is an athletic big man who averaged 15.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game as a freshman last season. With Al Horford and Luke Kornet set to be free agents and Kristaps Porzingis a potential trade target, Boston could use frontcourt reinforcements, and the 19-year-old Newell has plenty of upside.
The Celtics may not want to part with the assets required to trade up in the draft, and they’ve had success near the end of the first round before (Robert Williams at No. 27; Payton Pritchard at No. 26). But if they’re serious about shedding salary to get under the second apron of the luxury tax, they’ll need to hit on draft picks, which could make it worthwhile to move up the 2025 draft board.
