French forward Noah Penda is heading to the Magic.
French forward Noah Penda is heading to the Magic.FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images
The Celtics on Thursday night traded the 32nd overall pick of the NBA Draft to the Magic in exchange for the 46th and 57th picks this year, as well as second-round picks in 2026 and 2027, according to a league source.
After the first round Wednesday, president of basketball operations Brad Stevens stressed several times the need to regain flexibility and maximize asset return, and flipping one second-round pick into four certainly helps with that.
On Wednesday night the Celtics selected 19-year-old Spanish wing Hugo Fernandez with the 28th overall pick. Stevens said the team intends to bring Fernandez to Boston this summer rather than stash him overseas for a year.
“Just big fan of how he plays,” Stevens said Wednesday. “He’s tough, he’s hard playing, he cuts, he goes after the ball, he competes. He’s got all the intangibles of a winning basketball player. There’s things he can get better at just like everybody else at that age, but competitiveness is at a high level.”
Boston will soon shift its focus to free agency, which begins Monday night. The Celtics are already eligible to negotiate with their own free agents, Al Horford and Luke Kornet, who are both unrestricted. Stevens has made it clear the Celtics would like to re-sign both players.
“There is no question our priorities would be to bring Al and Luke back,” he said. “Those guys are huge parts of this organization. They’re going to have, I’m sure, plenty of options all over the place, and that’s well deserved, but I think that would be a priority. At the same time, I don’t want to put pressure on them. It’s their call ultimately. But, yeah, we would love to have those guys back.”
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.