The 2022 NBA Draft is Thursday night, and the Boston Celtics will likely come out of it with at least one new player.
The Celtics don't own their first-round pick this year. It was sent to the San Antonio Spurs in February as part of the trade that sent Derrick White to Boston. The pick ended up being No. 25 overall.
The C's do have a second-round pick at No. 53 overall.
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A few areas of the Celtics roster that need upgrading are bench scoring, center depth, shooting and a playmaking point guard. Finding a player with more than one of these abilities would obviously be ideal, but that's hard to find late in the second round.
That said, there have been several players in recent years who were drafted in Round 2 and developed into quality NBA players, even as rookies.
One player who's been projected to the Celtics in a few mock drafts is Michigan forward Moussa Diabate. He's listed at 6-foot-11 and 210 pounds. The French-born power forward averaged nine points and six rebounds as a freshman with the Wolverines last season. He also started 26 of his 32 games played.
Boston Celtics
Diabtate has been as high as No. 34 overall (fourth pick in the second round) and as low as No. 53 in various mock drafts. There's clearly a wide range of opinion on his potential.
Which other players might the Celtics target? Here's a roundup of expert predictions for the Celtics' second-round pick from recent NBA mock drafts.
Jonathan Givony, ESPN: Gabriele Procida, SG, Fortitudo Bologna
Jeremy Woo, Sports Illustrated: Moussa Diabate, PF, Michigan
Jonathan Wasserman, Bleacher Report: Moussa Diabate, PF, Michigan
Cody Taylor, The Rookie Wire (USA TODAY): Hugo Besson, Guard NZ Breakers (NBL)
Krysten Peek, Yahoo Sports: Collin Gillespie, G, Villanova
Sam Vecenie, The Athletic: Jared Rhoden, SF, Seton Hall
Kyle Irving, Sporting News: Jabari Walker, SF, Colorado
NBADraft.net: Michael Foster, PF, G-League
Tankathon: Dominick Barlow, PF, Overtime Elite League