In theory, the No. 1 overall pick is more valuable than the No. 3 selection, hence why the Philadelphia 76ers relinquished a first-round pick in next year’s NBA draft to move up two spots earlier this week.
That said, the Boston Celtics, who traded down from No. 1 to No. 3 in the aforementioned deal, still sit in an enviable position, especially given some rumors surrounding Kansas’ Josh Jackson, who could be the best player available on many draft boards Thursday night if Washington’s Markelle Fultz and UCLA’s Lonzo Ball go first and second, respectively, as expected.
First, consider this report Thursday morning from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports’ The Vertical:
Sure, it’s vague. But it establishes the notion that Jackson is a hot commodity, regardless of whether Boston has any intention of drafting him.
It would behoove Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge to work the phones in an effort to parlay this supposed interest into landing even more assets or — get this! — the star player Boston has long coveted, unless, of course, he’s fixated on adding Jackson to his team’s core.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne added to Woj’s report Thursday by elaborating on the apparent interest in Jackson, who skipped a workout with the Celtics but said Wednesday he’d love to play in Boston if the organization decided to draft him.
Could the Celtics trade the No. 3 pick (and the opportunity to draft Jackson) for someone like DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers, LaMarcus Aldridge of the San Antonio Spurs, Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls or Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks? Would they even want to?
The Celtics find themselves in a fascinating situation as the draft approaches, and while the No. 3 pick might not be quite as valuable as the No. 1 pick they held just a few days ago, it clearly still holds a ton of worth, especially if everyone is as high on Jackson as we’re being led to believe.
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