While it was getting late in Boston by the time the Celtics were on the clock for the 28th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, it was even later in Spain. Despite that, Hugo Gonzalez stood up into the wee hours of the morning as there was a chance he would be taken in the first round.
The wait ended up worth it even after it was past 5 a.m. in Spain. The C’s picked Gonzalez with their first-round pick, landing the Real Madrid wing. Gonzalez’s team had just won Liga ACB title earlier as it was a huge night for him.
Watch the video of Gonzalez getting drafted, shared on social media by ESPN. Celtics president Brad Stevens gave Gonzalez a phone call soon after the team picked him.
“I just talked to him,” Stevens said at his news conference after the first round. “It’s 5 in the morning over there. I said, ‘Enjoy your night.’ He goes, ‘Eh, it’s a little late.’ So I said, ‘OK, maybe I’ll enjoy it for you.’”
The plan is for Gonzalez to come stateside for his rookie season this fall as he’ll develop with the franchise going forward. Stevens said he’s not sure yet if Gonzalez will play in Summer League, set for July 10-20 in Las Vegas, considering he’ll need to get to Boston plus he’s coming off his own season with Real Madrid.
Regardless, the Celtics drafted a 6-foot-6 wing they hope will become a rotation player down the line. The C’s were rumored to be a potentially-active team come draft night, but instead, they stayed pat at 28th overall. And by the sounds of it, they’re thrilled they landed the Real Madrid product.
“We’ve been watching Hugo for a long time,” Stevens said. “He’s obviously been on everybody’s radar I think for a long time and then followed his year with a great Real Madrid organization and team closely and watched him in all the U-18s and those types of things. Just a big fan of how he plays. He’s tough, he’s hard playing, he cuts, he goes after the ball, he competes. He’s got all the intangibles of a winning basketball player. There’s things he can get better at just like everybody else at that age, but competitiveness is at a high level.”
