For the bulk of NBA fans, early July is way too early to think about the 2024 NBA draft, but for those who make a living reporting on it and projecting where each year’s prospects will end up being taken, it’s plenty late enough to get started.
Such is the case with Brian Kalbrosky of our sister site For The Win. Kalbrosky already sees a selection for the Boston Celtics out of the 2024 draft class.
That prospect would be Aday Mara Gómez, a 7-foot-3 Spanish big man for Casademont Zaragoza of the Spanish Liga ACB. The UCLA commit put up “27 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.8 steals and 4.9 blocks per 40 minutes for Spain during the U17 FIBA World Cup in 2022” and his “rating around the rim (ATR) was the best at the tournament, per Cerebro, and his pure scoring prowess (PSP) ranked second-best.”
“While he is committed to UCLA, his Spanish club has reportedly not let him out of his contract to make the transition. That could make it difficult for his draft stock depending on how long this situation takes to resolve.”
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That could change whether he is even available for Boston to consider picking at such a late point in the draft and of course assumes the Celtics hang onto the pick.
But 7-foot-3 big men with skill are evidently popular in Boston lately, and having another ready in the pipeline (even if it is very unlikely they get anywhere near as good as Kristaps Porzingis) certainly isn’t a bad path to take.
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