Former Celtics Lottery Pick Puts Together Career Performance Vs. Heat

Somebody has to score on the lowly San Antonio Spurs, a team without any real stars as they currently occupy second-to-last place in the Western Conference.

On Saturday night, former Boston Celtics guard Romeo Langford shouldered some offensive responsibility, and it turned into a career performance for the 23-year-old.

Langford netted a career-high 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting in 29 minutes to go along with six rebounds in a 115-111 road win for the Spurs over the Miami Heat. Langford’s previous career high in scoring prior to that was a 16-point effort with the Celtics last season.

While it was a strong showing from Langford, he has never lived up to his lottery pick status. Boston selected the Indiana product at No. 14 overall in the 2019 NBA Draft.

After two-plus seasons of underwhelming play from Langford, the Celtics shipped the lanky guard along with Josh Richardson and a first-round pick to the Spurs for Derrick White.

That trade has obviously worked out very well for the Celtics with White blossoming in his second season with Boston. White is an instrumental piece in Boston’s rotation as he’s averaging 10.6 points, 3.4 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game while shooting an eye-popping 42.7% from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, Langford is still trying to get his footing in the league. He has played in 14 previous games for the Spurs — starting three of them — while tallying 5.9 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

But with double-digit scoring outputs now in four out of his last five contests, maybe Langford has found something in his game that will allow him to carve out a permanent role with the Spurs.