The Scheierman family attended their son Booker’s high school graduation over Memorial Day weekend. After following in his older brother’s footsteps, starring at quarterback at Aurora High School in Nebraska and continuing to play college basketball, Booker and the family didn’t expect to see Baylor Scheierman until the following day at the party. Instead — Baylor appeared by surprise at the ceremony in his hometown.
It became more difficult this year for him to pull off such a feat in Aurora, where only 4,000 people live.
“Word gets out pretty quick that Baylor’s home,” Scott Phillips, his former coach and teacher said. “Kids will be coming up to him at the basketball and football games asking for autographs and there’s a huge line of kids. That’s part of the territory he understands as far as when you come back home, it’s a big deal that we have an NBA player from a small town in Nebraska.”
Scheierman golfed, played tennis and watched movies with family late last month before returning to his workout routine. He understood the factors that led to limited playing time in his rookie year, Joe Mazzulla playfully alerting him to that reality following training camp by saying I don’t really like rookies. Now, Scheierman is using that lack of playing time as motivation this summer, while focusing on his shooting mechanics, gaining several more pounds, changing speeds, finishing at the rim, shooting off the move and from distance.
He and the Celtics didn’t expect their season to end in mid-May. But it provided him an opportunity to get a head start at taking the next steps in his career. Among other takeaways, he noticed the physicality allowed against Boston in playoff basketball, and the need to match it.
“I am a shooter, but I feel like I can do a lot of other different things,” he told CLNS Media last week.
Apr 6, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics forward Baylor Scheierman (55) shoots the ball over Washington Wizards guard AJ Johnson (5) during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
That process will continue over the next 3-4 weeks in Boston before he headlines the Celtics’ Summer League team in Las Vegas. Scheierman flew back to Massachusetts on Sunday after taking a break at home following a dizzying first NBA season after getting a final workout in with his trainer Mitch Ballock.
Draft night
One year ago, Scheierman fought through knee and ankle pain during the NBA Draft process. He stayed in Nebraska, traveling for individual team workouts and sometimes taking multiple during one road trip, Boston and New York, for example.
The trip to see the Celtics became a full circle moment, as they evaluated him in 2022, when he tested the combine process. Boston recommended that he returned to college and work on his strength and athleticism, and a transfer to Creighton allowed him to test his improvement in those areas against greater competition.
The biggest thing he was missing was the physicality of the league,” Ballock said. “Being able to run and fly off screens and be able to shoot it at a high level.”
Scheierman also noticed how the prospects who played at higher levels received more invitations during the process. His second Creighton season also connected him with Ballock, a former Creighton star who took over his individual workouts before becoming an assistant at the school in 2023-24. Ballock noticed wear-and-tear, like taking a knee to the thigh, impacting Scheierman during the process. But the Boston workout still went well.
Mar 1, 2023; Omaha, Nebraska, USA; Creighton Bluejays guard Baylor Scheierman (55) reacts against the Georgetown Hoyas in the second half at CHI Health Center Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
“The feedback that we got from him is that he shot it where they thought he could or a little bit better than they thought he would,” Ballock said. “And the biggest thing was his energy and his talk and his attitude. When you’re a fringe first-rounder, or you’re a fringe NBA player or whatever, that stuff stands out to those guys and he really attacked that at a high level. I always explain to him, he has a little s*** to him, and you have to have a little shit to you, not to where you’re an arrogant assh***, but he has enough s*** to him where it makes him successful.”
The Celtics made a promise to Scheierman with their No. 30 overall pick, but teams ranging from 23-29 also expressed interest. Denver traded up to No. 22 after working him out and picked DaRon Holmes II, a center. New York traded out of 24 and picked Pacôme Dadiet, a younger prospect. Minnesota took Terrance Shannon Jr. Utah went with a guard, Isaiah Collier.
Despite the promise, nerves built at the Let It Fly sports bar in Omaha, where Scheierman hosted his draft party, especially as names went off the board his family members hadn’t heard of. If Boston didn’t take Scheierman, he would’ve fallen into round two.
The call came in and roughly five minutes before the pick came in on TV. Creighton coach Greg McDermott and Scheierman approached his mother Shannon and Baylor said, this is it before they gathered into the studio at the bar to react on-camera.
Jayson Tatum greeted Scheierman at the team facility when he arrived to sign his rookie contract. The Celtics could’ve traded back to maintain more contract flexibility in the second, but they wanted Scheierman.
“Brad didn’t think he would be there at 30,” Ballock said. “So when he was, I thought that was really cool that Brad kept his word.”
Late bloomer
Nobody in Aurora in 2015 pictured an NBA future for Scheierman. He stood at 5-10, and roughly 100 pounds as a freshman, high school football coach Kyle Peterson remembered. Peterson first watched him at a middle school basketball game firing shots from long range, unaffected by an air ball before draining two in a row. Scott Phillips taught him as a seventh-grader before coaching his freshman team, and noticed his 5:30-6 a.m. workouts start before he reached high school.
“He’s a pretty easy kid to work out because you don’t have to move very far because he’s so effective with shooting,” Phillips said.
Scheierman loved basketball. Football proved a harder sell, Peterson telling him all his friends played and that he’d be left shooting hoops alone. That didn’t bother Scheierman, but he joined. It proved helpful long-term.
Mar 24, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Boston Celtics guard Baylor Scheierman (55) reacts after making a three point basket against the Sacramento Kings in the fourth quarter at the Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
While his body didn’t grow large enough to play varsity early in high school, reaching roughly 6-6 and 185 pounds by the end of his sophomore year. But basketball and football coaches noticed his ability to connect with receivers and teammates through his arm strength and vision.
Developing relationships with them that lasted throughout high school took time, leading to a state season touchdown record for Scheierman, three receivers setting program single-game touchdown records and even gifting a double-figure basketball season for offensive lineman Nick Hutsell, who mostly caught dump-offs.
“Every time Baylor would would penetrate, (Hutsell’s) hands just went up in front of his face,” Peterson said. “Because he didn’t want that ball to hit his nose.”
Scheierman committed to South Dakota State early in his junior year for basketball. In football, he ran a fast-paced, no huddle offense that threw on most plays. He reached nearly 4,000 yards and tossed 59 touchdowns as a senior. Major football schools inquired about his interest in playing, including the University of Nebraska, his mother recalled, but they wanted him to play wide receiver or tight end. Scheierman saw himself as a quarterback. More so, Scheierman believed in his basketball abilities.
“The skills that that he used were identical, just his anticipation, his sense of spacing, matchups,” Petersons said. “I think he’s always looking for a matchup and he was on the football field. We were really, especially late in his senior year, focused on getting our best kids matched up against the right look, and I think that’s probably a basketball skill too that we utilized.”
The G-League
Early in November, Scheierman stood in the Celtics’ locker room with two suitcases packed. Boston assigned him to Maine, and would decide week-to-week whether he would play G-League basketball or re-join the professional team. He struggled shooting in the preseason and at least three wings played significant roles in front of him. One, Jayson Tatum, hit him with a bump fadeaway early in camp that Scheierman viewed as his welcome to the NBA moment. Shot-making by teammates struck him more than the athleticism.
Scheierman competed alongside JD Davison and Drew Peterson for a strong Maine team playing off the bench, replicating the role he would play in Boston. He mostly spent his rookie season in Portland, and despite getting recalled eight times, Scheierman grew to love it. He mentioned to his mother last month how nice the weather must be in Maine now that it’s summertime.
“He had a really positive experience in year one and sometimes it’s a little different in the NBA, because you do put a little bit of pressure on yourself to go out there and perform,” Phillips said, keeping in touch with Scheierman throughout his rookie year. “Being able to play, knowing that he was out there to get better and be a good teammate was a big part of it, and … I think helps that confidence level to get back to, ‘hey, I can compete at this level’ … part of it that’s tough about it is the constant travel, the back-and-forth, but the reps on the floor were, I think, a huge part of his progress. To be able to go out there and get in the rhythm and to get to know his teammates a little bit better.”
Mar 18, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics forward Baylor Scheierman (55) reacts with the bench after hitting a three point shot during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
Scheierman played 25 games and emerged as a community staple. He attempted 9.7 threes per game, reaching 37.9% efficiency before his final call-up to begin February. His 6.4 rebound and 4.3 assist averages flashed an ability to impact the game outside of his scoring. Ballock texted notes to Scheierman when he noticed him doing things, positive and negative, and Scheierman would reply with what he planned to focus on in the games.
They reunited recently before Scheierman returned to Boston, working specifically on getting his hips square when he flies around screens. He noticed Scheierman turning in the air and being undisciplined as a rookie, leading to shooting inconsistency. Ballock praised Schierman’s defensive effort into his NBA stint, remembering him picking up Jaime Jaquez full court and defending physically. He also claimed Scheierman went 4-0 on recommending coach’s challenges.
In a highlight moment earlier on at Capital City, with one second remaining in the half, he stepped out of bounds after an opposing make, turned and fired a full court touchdown pass to Davison. Tom Leininger, Scheierman’s high school coach, texted him after the game saying he’s seen that too many times.
Peterson remembered full court bounce passes from Scheierman back in Nebraska, and later in Phoenix, after Scheierman channeled his inner Rajon Rondo with a behind-the-back pass, he stressed that while that might surprise newer fans, nobody who watched him growing up overlooked his passing ability.
Did Baylor Scheierman just Rondo?! pic.twitter.com/ggYO83OPoH
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) March 27, 2025
“Did you, did you tell JD? Did you guys communicate?” his mother Shannon asked him after.
Scheierman simply told Davison go.
“He went and he knew he was going and it was on,” Shannon Scheierman said. “In high school, they did that in basketball all the time. And even in football, his ability to read and thread the needle to the guy. I’m like, ‘how does he do that?’ It’s definitely a gift and it’s fun to watch.”
QB1 to WR1! 🏈
Baylor Scheierman connects with JD Davison on a Hail Mary for the BIG-TIME SLAM to end the first half with a bang! pic.twitter.com/JF56DqTZ91
— NBA G League (@nbagleague) January 13, 2025
Breakthrough
Scheierman’s NBA breakout happened in March after the Celtics slipped-up, falling behind to the Nets before halftime, who pushed them to within two points before the buzzer days earlier. He made a brief first quarter appearance where he split a pair of threes, then he hit a go-ahead basket before the buzzer at the end of the third quarter after Brooklyn took a foul on him. Kristaps Porziņģis caught his in-bounds pass, fired it back to Scheierman, who buried a shot from the in-bounds line. He leaped toward the Boston bench, kissed three fingers and pointed them in the air.
Baylor Scheierman beats the 3rd-quarter buzzer from deep!
BOS leads by 1 on NBA TV pic.twitter.com/vpYaDccc2F
— NBA (@NBA) March 19, 2025
He scored 20 points on 7-for-8 shooting in the win, and appeared in 13 of the team’s final 14 games aside from a playoff dress rehearsal at New York. Scheierman’s family group chat lit up that night. This is Baylor, they agreed.
“I’m sure that everybody on our team loved him and the other team probably hated him,” Leininger, his high school coach, said of Scheierman’s celebrations. “But I always say when you can back it up, it’s not cocky, and he could definitely back it up.”
Tatum teased Scheierman about the celebration in the locker room, the rookie speaking post-game lamenting that he needed to work on a new celebration. By the first round of the playoffs the following month, he found one. Inspired by Tatum’s wrist injury in the postseason opener, he held his wrist over his head when Tatum made a shot upon his return in Orlando. Tatum liked it, and borrowed it himself for the rest of the postseason.
“That Orlando series, that was like a football game, super physical and not a lot of fouls called,” he remembered.
Mar 6, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics forward Baylor Scheierman (55) reacts after his three point basket along with Philadelphia 76ers head coach Nick Nurse in the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Scheierman credited Tatum for inspiring confidence in him. That made it more difficult when he reached the locker room after Game 4 in New York and the team learned Tatum tore his achilles. Scheierman juggled three thoughts, concern for Tatum, the need to move on to Game 5 and the growing thought alongside other injuries and illnesses that the Celtics could call on him.
“When we’re fully healthy, obviously wasn’t expecting to play really much,” Scheierman said. “But then when people start going down, you start to think, ‘now I really gotta be locked in and prepared,’ because there’s a chance my number could get called.”
It never did until late in Game 6, trailing by 41 points, a bitter end to the season and perhaps this core’s time together. Several players expressed after the loss that they didn’t know whether they’d play together again.
Many who knew Scheierman wondered the same this month. Reports about possible changes, large and small, in Boston could either land him elsewhere or allow for more opportunities into year two. He and teammates haven’t discussed the possibilities, but he admitted it presents a weird feeling approaching the anniversary of his draft.
At least, when this month ends, he’ll no longer be a rookie. He’s thankful year one involved carrying playing cards to team plane rides and coffees to the arena for teammates, and not a car filled with popcorn.
“The hardest part of it all is spending so much time with these guys over the last 10 months,” Scheierman told CLNS Media. “You start to build and form relationships and then all of a sudden it could just be, they just won’t be here anymore. I think as far as basketball goes, like I’ve said before, it’s really just controlling what you can control. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know anything of who’s gonna be on the team or what’s gonna happen, but the only thing I can really control is the work I put in and preparing myself and putting myself in a great position and then everything else, the chips will fall where they may.”