NBA Mock Draft Projects Celtics To Select Auburn Prospect In First Round

The conclusion of the NCAA Tournament marks the start of NBA mock draft season for the Boston Celtics and 29 other teams in the association.

In their first NBA mock draft following the NCAA Tournament, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz on Thursday projected the Celtics to select Auburn point guard Sharife Cooper with the 19th overall pick in this year’s draft.

Cooper averaged 20.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game in 12 games as a freshman. He announced last Friday he’ll enter the 2021 NBA Draft and will hire an agent.

“He is a once in a generation point guard who has an uncanny ability to score and help others score,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said, per NBA.com.

The 2021 NBA Draft Lottery will take place June 22. That’s when the draft order will be set, and the Celtics will learn where they’ll pick. The 2021 NBA Draft will take place June 29.

Analysts will publish a host of NBA mock drafts over the next two-plus months, and they almost certainly will link the Celtics to other prospects. The Celtics have been hard to figure out this season, and determining with any accuracy at this point what type of player they’ll target in the draft seems like a futile exercise.

For now, Celtics fans can familiarize themselves with Cooper and compare him to other players mock drafters predict Boston will draft.