Boston holds the No. 27 pick — its own first-round selection — and Bleacher Report projects the Celtics to select St. John’s center Zuby Ejiofor, a physically developed, motor-driven big man who could fill the center depth role that becomes more pressing depending on how Boston handles Nikola Vučević’s free agency this summer.

The Celtics hold only the one pick here. Boston’s front office is managing a championship-caliber roster against the hard cap, and using the No. 27 pick to add a center on a rookie-scale deal is precisely the type of value-seeking move that Brad Stevens has executed throughout his tenure. Ejiofor represents a potential low-cost, high-effort option who fits the Celtics’ defensive culture from day one.

Ejiofor’s career trajectory is one of the more compelling development stories in college basketball. He spent three seasons at Kansas without establishing himself as a meaningful rotation contributor, then transferred to St. John’s, where he became an indispensable piece of one of the most surprising runs in recent college basketball history. His game is physical and straightforward: he establishes position with force, rebounds with elite tenacity, contests shots without fouling recklessly, and runs the floor hard enough to generate easy opportunities. His shooting needs significant work — the mechanics are not hopeless — but his value at this stage of the draft doesn’t require shooting. It requires everything else he already does well.

The Celtics’ system under Joe Mazzulla rewards bigs who understand their lanes and don’t deviate from them. Al Horford’s success in Boston for multiple seasons was built on positional discipline, help-side rotations, and three-point shooting. Ejiofor won’t have Horford’s shooting immediately, but the positioning instincts and motor are already there. Boston’s development staff has historically turned this type of prospect into a serviceable rotation player faster than the market expects.

The player immediately after Ejiofor at No. 27 is Ebuka Okorie, the Stanford guard who goes to Minnesota at No. 28. Okorie is a scoring-first point guard with elite burst and pull-up shooting threat, but Boston’s most pressing need is at the interior — Ejiofor addresses it directly.

Outlet	Projected Player
Bleacher Report	Zuby Ejiofor
CBS Sports	Joshua Jefferson
Tankathon	Koa Peat

CBS Sports’ Adam Finkelstein projects Joshua Jefferson to Boston at No. 27 in his most recent mock, taking a different type of forward for the same slot. Gary Parrish also has a prospect in Boston’s range. Tankathon’s algorithm places Koa Peat at No. 27 for the Celtics — an Arizona forward with physical tools and a known shooting limitation. The outlet variance at this pick reflects genuine disagreement about whether Boston needs a big or a wing, with Bleacher Report’s Buckley landing on Ejiofor as the best available fit.

Boston’s organizational culture has long valued effort and positional discipline over raw talent, and Ejiofor’s developmental arc at St. John’s demonstrates both. He didn’t get better by accident; he got better through process. That mentality tends to thrive in championship environments where the coaching staff demands accountability and the veteran players model it daily. Ejiofor’s fit isn’t complicated — he comes in, works hard, and grows into the role the front office drafts him for.

Taking Ejiofor at No. 27 gives Boston a potential long-term center solution on a rookie deal, insurance against Vučević’s departure, and a high-motor frontcourt piece who earns playing time rather than getting handed it. For a franchise that has been to multiple Finals in the past four years, maintaining championship infrastructure at minimal cost is exactly the kind of draft wisdom that keeps contenders contending.