Donovan Clingan's Cooper Flagg Connection Doesn't Signal Blazers Future

The Portland Trail Blazers have a recent draft pick with a near-family connection to the No. 1 pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, Cooper Flagg.

Donovan Clingan, who's from Connecticut and won consecutive March Madness Tournaments with the UConn Huskies before Portland selected him in the 2024 draft's lottery, has known Flagg since they were kids. Their mothers played together on the Maine Black Bears in the America East conference back in the 1990s.

“We go back since we were kids,” Clingan told The Athletic. “Our families know each other. He’s just from (a) good family. He’s a great kid. That connection goes back pretty far.

“It’s a small world. Both our moms were high-level hoopers. And both of us are now in the NBA. It’s pretty special. It’s a nice connection. He’s a really special player.”

The two battled Monday night during a 125-122 Blazers win over the Dallas Mavericks at the Moda Center. Clingan had 18 points and 11 rebounds, with two made three-pointers. Flagg had 15 points, eight assists, six rebounds, and three steals.

Could they team up one day, though, given their family ties?

Cooper Flagg Ever Ending Up on Blazers Unlikely

The smart money on Clingan and Flagg ever teaming up wouldn't be in the Rose City for the Blazers, or even the Mavs in the Metroplex.

It'd be on the New England natives' home team, the Boston Celtics, after the Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown era runs its course.

Portland has a ways to go before being attractive enough for a generational talent like Flagg. The building blocks are evident, with Deni Avdija, Shaedon Sharpe, and Clingan, but right now, the Blazers are unproven, as a prospective low NBA Play-In seed.

Portland doesn't have a reputation as a player-friendly market, and Oregon isn't a player-friendly state from a tax perspective. The South Coast is what players take a discount for. Not the Pacific Northwest.

Few besides delusional diehards were thinking about Flagg in a Blazers uniform upon reading Clingan's interview in The Athletic. It's best to shut that down before it gets even the slightest bit of oxygen in your mind, though.