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Late Wednesday night, the Boston Celtics completed a blockbuster three-team trade with the Washington Wizards and the Memphis Grizzlies. The Celtics received star big man Kristaps Porzingis, the 25th pick in the 2023 draft, and a 2024 protected first-round pick via the Golden State Warriors. The Wizards received Tyus Jones, Danilo Gallinari, Mike Muscala, and the 35th pick in the 2023 draft, and the Grizzlies got Marcus Smart.
Giving up Celtics fan favorite Smart in the deal — who spent nine seasons playing for the storied franchise — will be a tough pill to swallow for Celtics fans. But the deal made sense from a basketball perspective, as the Celtics received the best player in the deal, and they netted not one but multiple first-round picks from the three-team trade.
There are plenty of players projected to be on the board around the pick-25 range who could make an impact for the Celtics right away. But there are also several prospects in this range that the Celtics should not consider on Thursday night. With all of that said, here are two players the Boston Celtics must avoid with the 25th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft after their three-team trade:
2 players Celtics must avoid with No. 25 pick in 2023 NBA Draft after 3-team trade
Trayce Jackson-Davis
A 6'9″ forward, Jackson-Davis starred on the offensive end of the floor in his senior year with the Indiana Hoosiers. He averaged 20.9 points per game on 58.1% shooting from the field, but Jackson-Davis provided so much more on offense besides simply scoring. He also corralled 2.8 offensive rebounds per contest and dished out 4.0 assists.
And on the defensive side of the ball, Jackson-Davis functioned as an elite rim protector, as he averaged 2.9 blocked shots and 3.3 per 40 minutes.
But for all of the good that Jackson-Davis did on both ends in his senior year, there's one glaring hole in his offensive repertoire that should give the Celtics pause about drafting with the 25th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Jackson-Davis is a non-threat to score the ball from behind the three-point arc. Not in the sense that Jackson-Davis attempted plenty of threes and simply didn't make many of them — he didn't so much as take a single three-pointer in his senior year with the Hoosiers and shot a grand total of three in his four-year college career.
The Celtics would be better off using their 25th overall pick on a player who's better at shooting the ball from behind the three-point arc.
Terquavion Smith
With Marcus Smart heading to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Celtics are short on playmakers. Hence, it would make a lot of sense for the Celtics to draft a guard with their first-round pick. Houston's Marcus Sasser, for example, is a guard who would be a perfect fit for the Celtics. But one backcourt player the Celtics should avoid is NC State's, Terquavion Smith.
Smith functioned as a score-first guard in his sophomore season at NC State and a very inefficient one at that. He shot just 38.0% from the field, including 42.4% from inside the three-point arc.
Only time will tell who the Boston Celtics end up selecting with the 25th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. At least Celtics fans won't have to wait much longer for the answer, though, as the NBA Draft will take place on Thursday night. What's already abundantly clear, however, is that the Celtics should avoid selecting Trayce Jackson-Davis or Terquavion Smith.
