The Boston Celtics didn’t completely disassociate from the 2023 NBA draft class, making their first selection in the second round on Thursday night.
After finalizing several trades and acquiring an abundance of second-round selections, including some futures, the Celtics selected guard Jordan Walsh out of Arkansas with their No. 38 pick, by way of the Sacramento Kings.
Again, it took Boston four trades, including swapping its way out of the first round and the Kritaps Porzingis blockbuster, to get to this point.
Walsh, 19, stands at 6-foot-6 and averaged 6.7 points and 3.9 rebounds during his freshman year last season with the Razorbacks. He made 22 starts in 36 games total, playing an average of 24.4 minutes per contest and shooting 43.3% from the field while also going 71.2% from the charity stripe.
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While the offensive numbers weren’t flashy in comparison to Walsh’s collegiate counterparts, his upside comes on the defensive end, providing versatility due to his 204-pound frame and 7-foot-3 wingspan.
The Celtics weren’t done after selecting Walsh, however.
Boston dealt the No. 39 pick — Mouhamed Gueye from Washington State — to the Atlanta Hawks for (if you could believe it) another future second-round selection. To many, this Bill Belichick-like strategy seems insane on paper, yet could help the C’s in the long run, giving them a $5 million taxpayer mid-level exception this offseason, according to Keith Smith of Spoctrac.
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In the end, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens compiled four second-round selections plus some financial leeway for Boston in a matter of 24 hours.
Not too shabby, right?
Featured image via Jeffrey Becker/USA TODAY Sports Images
