The Boston Celtics are positioned to compete for another championship title and still enter draft night with the No. 27 overall pick — a late-first-round selection that, in the hands of one of the NBA’s best development organizations, represents an opportunity to add a specialist who could grow into something far greater. Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley projects the Celtics to take Duke sophomore Isaiah Evans — one of the top three-point marksmen in this class — and use their legendary shooting development infrastructure to expand his game from specialist to full contributor.

Evans is one of those rare players whose primary skill — three-point shooting — translates the moment he enters the league. He is a legitimate sharpshooter with great off-ball movement, able to use his shooting threat to either punish inattentive defenders or create extra space for teammates without touching the ball. Boston’s motion offense — built entirely around player movement, screen-setting, and catch-and-shoot opportunities — is precisely the kind of system where Evans’s value is maximized from day one.

The development question is whether Evans can grow beyond his specialist role. He is still working on his handle and his playmaking, which currently limits his ability to create shots for himself or others off the dribble. Buckley notes the hope that he can “grow out of a specialist role by continuing to grow as a ball-handler and playmaker” — a realistic aspiration for a 20-year-old with another developmental season ahead of him before joining the Celtics’ system. Boston’s track record with wings who can shoot — from Jayson Tatum to Sam Hauser to Payton Pritchard — suggests the organization knows how to add layers to players who arrive with one elite skill.

The direct opportunity cost at No. 27 is the Dallas Mavericks’ No. 28 pick — per the Kyrie Irving trade in this mock — where Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie falls. Okorie is a more dynamic scoring creation option: a 6-foot-2 guard who led the ACC in scoring with a quick trigger and a reputation for delivering clutch shots. Boston passing on Okorie in favor of Evans is a bet that the Celtics need more shooting, not more creation — a logical decision for a team that already has Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Derrick White generating offense.

CBS Sports’ outlets diverge at this spot. Adam Finkelstein and Cameron Salerno project Alabama’s Amari Allen — a 6-foot-5 do-everything wing — to Boston at No. 27, arguing the Celtics need defensive versatility over pure shooting. Gary Parrish sends Henri Veesaar to Boston, projecting the Celtics will prioritize center depth over perimeter creation. Tankathon projects Koa Peat. Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor projects UConn’s Tarris Reed to Boston, arguing the Celtics’ center vacancy behind Neemias Queta is their most urgent need at this stage of the board.

Boston’s best asset in evaluating late first-rounders is the organizational culture that demands contribution from every roster spot. Evans would enter a system that has never wasted a late pick — and that track record is the best argument for trusting this projection over alternatives that prioritize a more immediately visible need.

What Other Outlets Are Projecting

Outlet	Projected Player
Bleacher Report	Isaiah Evans, SF, Duke
CBS Sports	Amari Allen, SF, Alabama (Finkelstein, Salerno)
Tankathon	Koa Peat, PF, Arizona
Yahoo Sports	Tarris Reed Jr., C, UConn

Evans at No. 27 is the right call for Boston because championship teams are won and lost on three-point shooting volume and accuracy in the fourth quarter of playoff games, and Evans is the best available shooter at this stage of the draft. The Celtics don’t need another creator — they have four of the top 50 players in the NBA already. What they need is a player whose presence on the court stretches the defense even further and whose development as a ball-handler could eventually turn him from a shooting specialist into an attacking threat in his own right. Evans checks both boxes, and Boston’s system is the best environment in the league to help him reach the second one.