The Celtics enter Tuesday night's draft with picks No. 27 and No. 40.
Just one day away from the start of the NBA Draft, it's still unclear if the Boston Celtics will use their two draft picks (No. 27 and No. 40). The Celtics could keep their current group together and supplement it with draft capital, or they could elect to reshape their team by trading away picks - and Jaylen Brown - in a deal for two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
There's merit to both thought processes - and there's also risk in both.
With that said, let's take a look at the C's draft history since the year 2000.
2025: Hugo Gonzalez and Noah Penda (traded to Orlando)
2024: Baylor Scheireman and Anton Watson
2023: Julian Phillips (traded to Washington then Chicago)
2022: JD Davison
2021: Juhann Bagarin
2020: Aaron Nesmith, Payton Pritchard, Desmond Bane (traded to Memphis), Yam Madar
2019: Romeo Langford, Matisse Thybulle (traded to Philadelphia), Grant Williams, Tremont Waters
2018: Robert Williams
2017: Jayson Tatum, Semi Ojeleye, Kadeem Allen, Jabari Bird
Jayson Tatum (Duke) is interviewed after being selected as the number three overall pick to the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2017 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Brad Penner-Imagn Images2016: Jaylen Brown, Guerschon Yabusele, Ante Zizic, Devonta Davis (traded to Memphis), Rade Zagorac (traded to Memphis), Demetrius Jackson, Ben Bentil, Abdel Nader
2015: Terry Rozier, RJ Hunter, Jordan Mickey, Marcus Thornton
2014: Marcus Smart, James Young
2013: Lucas Nogueira (traded to Dallas then Atlanta)
2012: Jared Sullinger, Fab Melo, Kris Joseph
2011: MarShon Brooks (traded to New Jersey, now Brooklyn), E'Twaun Moore
2010: Avery Bradley, Luke Harangody
2009: Lester Hudson
2008: J.R. Giddens, Semih Erden
2007: Jeff Green (traded to Seattle), Gabe Pruitt
2006: Randy Foye (traded to Portland, then Minnesota)
2005: Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, Orien Greene
2004: Al Jefferson, Delonte West, Tony Allen, Justin Reed
2003: Troy Bell (traded to Memphis), Dahntay Jones (traded to Memphis), Brandon Hunter (Ohio)
2002: Darius Songalia (Wake Forest)
2001: Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown, Joseph Forte
Brooklyn Nets forward Joe Johnson (7) works against Atlanta Hawks forward DeMarre Carroll (5) during the second half in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Philips Arena. The Hawks defeated the Nets 99-92. Dale Zanine-Imagn Images2000: Jermome Moiso
BOLD = on active roster
Overall takeaways
It's really hard to draw sweeping conclusions over the last 25 years of C's draft history. There have been a lot of trades, a lot of hits and a lot of misses. The clear best period of drafting is 2016-17 when the team got Brown and Tatum in consecutive years. That core helped the Celtics to an NBA Finals win in 2023-24.
Then-executive Danny Ainge deserves bonus points for trading the No. 1 pick in 2017, passing on Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball, in order to draft Tatum.
Brad Stevens has taken some nice role players in the last few years, but with the Celtics having been so good, they've been constantly drafting late in the first round - if at all.
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