If (and when) Cooper Flagg hears his name called first in the 2025 NBA Draft, it will mark the first time in 40 years that a New England area top prospect has been selected with the first overall pick.
The Newport, Maine, native will receive the torch long held by Patrick Ewing, who was born in Jamaica but moved to Cambridge, Mass., as a young teenager. Ewing was a star at Cambridge Rindge & Latin before attending Georgetown and going No. 1 overall to the New York Knicks in the 1985 draft. He lived up to the hype, becoming an 11-time NBA All-Star and Hall of Fame member.
That was also the first year the NBA implemented a draft lottery. In the 40 years since, dozens of New Englanders have reached the NBA. But only a select few have been lottery picks, representing some of the best prospects to ever come out of this region.
Here's a look back at every lottery pick from New England between Ewing and Flagg. We are only listing those who are native or spent significant time growing up in the region; players who only attended high school (Donovan Mitchell is one of many examples) are not listed. For simplicity's sake, though the lottery has changed format multiple times, we're considering a "lottery pick" by today's standards: a player chosen in the first 14 picks of the draft.
