Best players available for Celtics early in the second round of NBA Draft
After waiting nearly all night Wednesday to make their first selection in the 2025 NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics won't have to wait long to make a pick Thursday night. Boston owns the second pick in Round 2, giving Brad Stevens an opportunity to add one of the best players still available.
The Celtics took Hugo Gonzalez with the 28th pick Wednesday night, an athletic but raw 19-year-old wing who was a role player for Real Madrid last season. Boston will likely go with a big man Thursday at No. 32, following the reported trade of Kristaps Porzingis to Atlanta and with Al Horford and Luke Kornet both free agents this summer.
Here are the best players still on the board for the Celtics heading into Round 2 of the NBA Draft.
Maxime Raynaud, C, Stanford
Raynaud is a seven-footer who possesses a guard-like skill set. He averaged 20.2 points and 10.6 rebounds for the Cardinals last season, and was a unanimous First-Team All-ACC selection -- an honor he shared with No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg.
Raynaud is from Paris, France and didn't start playing basketball until his senior year of high school. He was initially a walk-on at Stanford, but was a starter by his sophomore year. Over his four-year college career, Raynaud averaged 12.6 points and 7.7 rebounds.
He shot 51 percent overall and 34.7 percent from three-point range on 2.5 attempts per game. His three-point attempts jumped up to 5.5 per game as a senior.
Ryan Kalkbrenner, C, Creighton
Kalkbrenner played five seasons for the Bluejays and is one of the older prospects at 23, but he can really bring it on both ends of the floor. He's got a massive wingspan at 7-foot-6 and used it well, averaging 2.4 blocks over his college career.
He led the Big East in blocks per game in each of the last three seasons, and was the Big East Defensive Player of the Year for four straight years from 2022-25.
Kalkbrenner averaged a career-best 19.2 points off 65.3 percent shooting and 8.7 rebounds per game last season, and averaged 14.5 points and 6.8 rebounds over his five years at Creighton.
Rasheer Fleming, F, St. Joe's
If the C's want to go the power forward route, Fleming could be Stevens' guy after he averaged a career-best 14.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in his junior season. He also upped his three-point percentage to 39 percent. Defensively, Fleming has a 7-foot-5 wingspan and averaged 1.3 blocks last season.
But the 20-year-old could be the first player off the board Thursday night, with the Minnesota Timberwolves possessing the first pick of Round 2.
Noah Penda, F, France
Like Raynaud, Penda can do a bit of everything from dribbling to passing to playing some strong defense. He's an extremely switchable 6-foot-7 wing who checks in at 245 pounds.
The 20-year-old played in 29 games for Le Mans in LNB Elite -- France's top league -- and averaged 10.2 points off 44 percent shooting overall (only 30.4 percent from downtown though) to go with 5.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and a team-best 1.3 steals and 0.9 blocks per game.
Adou Thiero, F, Arkansas
A 6-foot-6, 218-pound forward, Thiero is super athletic and already a solid defender. He has a seven-foot wingspan and averaged 15.1 points and 5.8 rebounds as the top option on the Razorbacks last year as a junior.
Thiero spent his first two college seasons at Kentucky, before he followed John Calipari to Arkansas last year.
Kameron Jones, G, Marquette
Stevens could opt to add another guard to the mix after reportedly sending veteran Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers. Jones started for the Golden Eagles in three of his four years at Marquette, and earned All-American Second Team honors last season after averaging 19.2 points, 5.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game.
The 6-foot-4 guard was a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award last season.
