After boldly trading away former 2024 champion starters Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to save an anticipated $250 million in luxury tax penalties earlier this week, the Boston Celtics made an intriguing move in the first round of the 2025 NBA draft on Wednesday.
With saving money a priority, it would have made sense for Boston to make a safe pick at the No. 28 selection. Bringing on a win-now contributor with a rookie-scale salary would be one of the most high-value moves available to the Celtics at this juncture.
Instead, Boston took upside, selecting 19-year-old Spanish forward Hugo González — who played sparingly on one of the EuroLeague’s best squads, Real Madrid, last season.
During a press conference after the fact, team president Brad Stevens explained his thinking behind the González pick, writes Jay King of The Athletic.
“When you’re that age in that situation,” Stevens said, “you’ve gotta earn your stripes. When we went and took our team (to play Real Madrid) years ago in the preseason, we played against a 16-year-old (Luka) Dončić that hardly got in, right? So, Hugo’s a little bit older and I’m not comparing him to Dončić, but I will say it’s great when you get to play on those teams.”
Stevens went on to observe the import of playing for Real Madrid as a Spanish player, noting that the franchise holds the same kind of power in that country that Boston does in the NBA.
“And I think that that’s a good thing,” Stevens said. “When we interviewed Hugo a couple weeks ago on Zoom, it’s really clear that he’s about the team and he accepts and is willing to play any role it takes. That’s not a learned trait for everybody that’s in the draft because most of these guys have never sat. And with that comes a humility and also an understanding that you’ve gotta invest every day just to take advantage of whatever opportunity you get.”
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