{"id":17252,"date":"2025-07-17T20:49:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T20:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/17252\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T20:49:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T20:49:07","slug":"boston-celtics-hopeful-back-on-nba-radar-after-mvp-season-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/17252\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics hopeful back on NBA radar after MVP season in China"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS \u2014 Kenneth Lofton Jr.<\/a> has made at least a notable name for himself in NBA circles. After all, he put up 42 points and 14 rebounds in the lone start of his NBA career. But the big man couldn\u2019t quite stick in the league, which led to him playing for the Shanghai Sharks in the Chinese Basketball Association last season. <\/p>\n

But Lofton is back stateside as he\u2019s looking for his next NBA opportunity, playing for the Celtics in Summer League<\/a>. He also came back with some hardware as he was named the CBA International MVP for the 2024-25 season, averaging 25.2 points, 12.6 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game.<\/p>\n

\u201cFelt like I got better,\u201d Lofton said of his year in China. \u201cCame up with a lot of new things to develop in my game. Minutes-wise, I was playing the whole game. I was in shape obviously. Just competing with other players. Playing my game, playing my style and looking to win games for my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lofton has played in all three games for the Summer C\u2019s<\/a> thus far, putting up 10.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 17.9 minutes per game. The Celtics have featured some of their other bigs<\/a>, so he hasn\u2019t been playing heavy minutes like he did in China.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear Lofton has an offensively-gifted game with his size. He\u2019s directed traffic with the ball in his hands, telling his teammates where he wanted them to cut. But it\u2019s defensively that\u2019s the main question. Lofton is a big dude listed at 275 pounds, but he gives up height at 6-foot-6. So matching up against taller bigs is a consistent challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing it my whole life,\u201d Lofton said. \u201c6-6, 6-7, I\u2019ve been going up against guys like 6-10. It ain\u2019t anything new.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if Lofton doesn\u2019t stick with the Celtics beyond Summer League, scouts can at least watch this new version of him after playing abroad. Perhaps he ends up back overseas again, but Lofton is at least giving the NBA another shot. He\u2019s still 22, so there are rookies older than him still suiting up in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

BETTING:The Celtics are listed at +550 to reach the East Finals next year on DraftKings<\/a>. Our comprehensive list of the best Massachusetts sportsbook promos<\/a> will help you decide which sportsbook to use.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only so much you can do,\u201d Lofton said. \u201cYou can control what you can control. That\u2019s about it. Playing in Summer League, training camp. Even grinding on your off days. Just keep getting better each and every day. I wake up with a mindset, you gotta be better than yesterday. That\u2019s how I live.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 Kenneth Lofton Jr. has made at least a notable name for himself in NBA circles.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-17252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}