Brad Stevens made the earliest Draft pick of his tenure as President of Basketball Operations on Tuesday night, selecting Houston big man Chris Cenac Jr. with the 27th overall pick of the NBA Draft.
The 6-foot-11, 240-pound forward spent just one season with the Cougars before declaring for the draft after his freshman year. In 37 games (36 starts), he averaged 9.5 points, 7.8 rebounds (2.2 offensive), and shot 48.5% from the field in 24.8 minutes per game.
“He’s just a good young player,” Stevens said. “Energetic, plays hard, excellent athlete, long. Fits a position of need, some things that we were a little short on this year from an athletic perspective, I think, with his size and his length. And when you play in the program he’s played for, he’s been taught well and been held to a high standard. I like that, and he will undoubtedly come here and be eager to jump into it. He’s a good worker, he’s a good person, and he’s got a lot to learn, but we’re excited about starting that process with him.”
Brad Stevens on Chris Cenac Jr.:
"Good young player. Energetic, plays hard, excellent athlete, long, fits a position of need. Some things that we were a little short on this year from an athletic perspective, I think, with his size and his length. When you play in the program… pic.twitter.com/xgIxVbHIlK
— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) June 24, 2026
Cenac, a New Orleans native, brings plenty of size and length to Boston’s frontcourt. He boasts a 7-foot-5 wingspan, a 240-pound frame, and has established himself as an elite rebounder.
He led or tied for Houston’s team lead in rebounding in 24 games and became the program’s first freshman to lead the team in rebounding since TaShawn Thomas in 2011-12. Cenac also led the Cougars with six double-doubles, which ranked fourth in Houston freshman single-season history.
At just 19 years old — he won’t turn 20 until February — Cenac is viewed as more of a developmental prospect as he joins a center room that currently consists of Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, and Amari Williams.
The upside, however, is what made him such an intriguing prospect.
Cenac was widely viewed as a top-10 prospect in the 2025 recruiting class coming out of high school. He also showed flashes of perimeter shooting ability during his lone season at Houston, knocking down 33.3% of his three-pointers on 2.4 attempts per game. If that part of his game continues to develop, there’s a path for him to become a stretch big at the NBA level.
“He’s got a lot to learn. He’s got a long way to go. He’s got a lot of room to grow,” Stevens added. “But, when you’re that age and you were that ballyhooed coming out of high school, and then you go and you play for Coach [Kelvin] Sampson, and he does not let you off the hook for one mistake over the course of a full year — everything that we’ve learned about Chris, and everything that coach has told me, is that [ Sampson] was pretty hard on him, and he was on him, and all he did was come to work, and I think that that’s a really impressive quality for a young guy.”
Dreams coming true in real time 🥹 pic.twitter.com/xTbPSaS1TX
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 24, 2026
The Celtics have found value late in the first round in recent years.
They selected Baylor Scheierman with the 30th overall pick in 2024 and Hugo Gonzalez with the 28th overall pick in 2025. Both young wings have developed into rotational pieces and remain part of Boston’s long-term plans.
One thing Stevens saw in Cenac also stood out with both Scheierman and Gonzalez: how hard he plays. It’s something Boston has valued in its recent draft picks, especially when developing players at the end of the first round.
“When I watched him play live several times this year, he didn’t always play well,” said Stevens. “But I never walked out of the gym thinking that he didn’t play hard, and that he didn’t really, really, really go after it. And so I think that’s a good place to start.”
