The Boston Celtics have been busy leading up to the 2025 NBA Draft, and that likely will continue over the next two days.
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens, who traded Jrue Holiday to the Trail Blazers and Kristaps Porzingis to the Hawks in a 24-hour span, accomplished the team’s first goal by getting under the second apron of the luxury tax. Now, Stevens will try to find the next wave of talent.
ESPN released a two-round mock draft on Wednesday morning, some 14 hours before the start of the 2025 NBA Draft. In doing so, the Worldwide Leader predicted each of Boston’s two selections — the three combined second-rounders the Celtics received for Holiday and Porzingis are in future drafts.
ESPN predicted the Celtics will select Stanford product Maxime Raynaud at No. 28 overall.
Raynaud, listed as a power forward and center, is considered a late first-round pick given the limited number of centers in the class. Ryan Kalkbrenner and Yanic Konan Niederhauser are a few other big men, a position of need for the Celtics after the Porzingis trade.
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“He is broadly viewed as having the most untapped upside of that trio, due to his flashes of offensive skill and more developed capacity to space the floor,” ESPN’s Jeremy Woo wrote about Raynaud. “His showing at the draft combine helped to reaffirm that, and the fact he only picked up basketball full-time as a high school senior coupled with strong intangibles has helped his stock.”
Boston’s second selection, the second pick in the second round at No. 32 overall, was used on Drake Powell in ESPN’s mock. A product of North Carolina, the 6-foot-6 shooting guard/small forward averaged 7.4 points with 3.4 rebounds in 37 games (24 starts).
In other draft news, the Celtics reportedly have considered jumping into the lottery — and not for either of the two players listed.