Boston Celtics select Duke's Jayson Tatum with No. 3 pick in NBA Draft
The Boston Celtics selected Duke small forward Jayson Tatum with the No. 3 pick in NBA Draft on Thursday night.
Boston owned the No. 1 pick in the draft but traded it to Philadelphia this week in exchange for the No. 3 pick and a future first-rounder. The Sixers selected Markelle Fultz with the top pick, while the Celtics selected the 19-year-old Tatum, a third-team All-ACC player last season who averaged 16.8 points for the Blue Devils while shooting 45.2 percent from the field.
Tatum, 6-foot-8, was a polished scoring threat during his lone season at Duke and also provides some rotation flexibility, with the ability to play both forward spots and defend as many as four positions.
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The Celtics have been high on Tatum throughout the draft process and had him in for a private workout late last week. Tatum said he stayed in contact with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski throughout the draft process, and it was Coach K who encouraged him to take the Celtics up on their invitation.
"He was just ranting about how great of a person (Celtics coach) Brad Stevens is," Tatum told reporters. "He really wanted me to go up there and work out for them. I was all for it. It worked out."
However, it's unclear if Celtics president Danny Ainge is done dealing.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
