For anyone hoping to see Jason Tatum and Cooper Flagg face off against each other Friday night in Boston, things are trending in the right direction.
Both players have been sidelined with injuries — Tatum has missed the entire season so far after tearing his achilles in last year’s playoffs, and Flagg has missed the last eight games with a sprained left foot.
There is still no definite indication whether either will play Friday when Flagg’s Mavericks are in Boston to take on Tatum’s Celtics at the TD Garden. But both of their injury statuses have improved this week, making the potential matchup between two former Duke Blue Devils more likely.
Sources have told ESPN’s Shams Charania that Tatum will make his return this season despite suffering the major injury less than 10 months ago, and that he is expected to be back for Friday’s game against the Mavericks.
And there has been some movement for Flagg as well. He was upgraded to questionable for Thursday’s game against the Orlando Magic after previously being listed as doubtful before missing Tuesday’s matchup against the Charlotte Hornets.
It’s certainly still possible that one or both of the players miss Friday’s 7 p.m. game at the Garden. But the odds of a shared return to the court look to be improving.
That would add yet another connection between Tatum and Flagg. The 28-year-old Tatum was a childhood idol for 19-year-old Flagg, who grew up as a Celtics fan in Maine. As a high-schooler, Flagg impressed Tatum at his summer basketball camp. And the two players shared a similar path in college, both playing one year at Duke before heading to the NBA.
“They talk pretty frequently, and have gotten to be good friends,” Flagg’s mother, Kelly Flagg, said in Maine earlier this week. “And so I think there’s a cool story there, Tatum being one of Cooper’s idols as a kid — which is so funny because Tatum is so young, to think that he could be an idol. But yeah, I think the Duke connection, the Boston connection.”
Tatum had singled out Flagg as the rookie he was most excited to watch this season, and Flagg had called Tatum his favorite current NBA player before joining the league.
“The first impression I had of Coop was just how hard he played, how he competed,” Tatum said last year while Flagg was still at Duke. “In high school, it’s rare to see a guy that wants to guard the other best player. Trying to block every shot, rebounding. And he just plays the right way. He has a great feel for the game.”
And Flagg explained to NBC Sports Boston last month how Tatum has become a source of counsel for him.
“He’s reached out to me and kind of been there as somebody that can give me advice, and I feel like, kind of followed a similar path to me,” Flagg said in early February.” He’s just been there, and obviously he still goes back to Duke and is a big supporter of the team and what not. So it’s pretty cool.”
Former NBA champion Tatum would be rejoining the No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference, with the Celtics still managing a 41-21 record in his absence. The injury-riddled Mavericks are twelfth in the Western Conference and have lost four straight games without Flagg in the lineup.
The Celtics won the previous matchup between the two teams with a 110-100 victory in Dallas on Feb. 3. Flagg had 36 points in that game. If he plays on Friday, it would be Flagg’s first career game against the Celtics in Boston.
A large contingent of Maine fans are expected to be in attendance either way.
