{"id":711784,"date":"2026-06-18T16:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/711784\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T16:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:21:12","slug":"celtics-predicted-to-draft-6-foot-8-forward-who-could-help-unleash-jayson-tatum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/711784\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Predicted To Draft 6-Foot-8 Forward Who Could Help Unleash Jayson Tatum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first round of the 2026 NBA Draft is on Tuesday, and as of now, the <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/boston-celtics\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Celtics<\/a> hold the No. 27 pick, but that could change if they move it for Giannis Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n<p>Since Antetokounmpo is still not on the Celtics, Boston has to target front-court help during the draft. Bleacher Report&#8217;s Andy Bailey <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25441296-2026-nba-mock-draft-consensus-picks-every-1st-rounder\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">published a mock draft<\/a> on Thursday, predicting that Boston will select Arizona&#8217;s forward Koa Peat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are questions about his shooting (he made seven threes all season and only shot 62.3 percent from the line), but Koa Peat&#8217;s combination of size, strength and feel for the game are still intriguing,&#8221; Bailey wrote. &#8220;And if he does develop a more consistent outside shot, his combination of feel and toughness could overcome the lack of top-flight athleticism.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Peat played only one season at Arizona, scoring 14.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Since Peat is 6-foot-8, he could develop into the Celtics&#8217; small forward, but he will need some time.<\/p>\n<p>Many people in the NBA believed that Peat should have stayed in school for another season. He may need a season or two to develop, but by 2028, he could be ready for significant playing time and potentially become a running mate to Jayson Tatum.<\/p>\n<p>More NBA: <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/boston-celtics\/news\/celtics-reportedly-getting-frustrated-giannis-antetokounmpo-trade-process\/9a436fdeb3d3e7207792ed32\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Celtics Reportedly Getting Frustrated With Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade Process<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first round of the 2026 NBA Draft is on Tuesday, and as of now, the Celtics hold&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-711784","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\/711784","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=711784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}