Max Shulga on what it was like to be drafted by the Boston Celtics

When the Boston Celtics took Max Shulga in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft, it immediately changed everything for the VCU alum. Projected to go anywhere from the middle of the second round to out of the draft entirely, the Ukrainian combo guard was more than a little excited when his name was called for the No. 57 pick of the draft that night.

Shulga recently took some time to talk about that moment with Forbes Celtics beat writer Bobby Krivitskty, sharing how knowing he was headed to the NBA felt to him. “It’s still surreal … it hasn’t really settled in fully yet … (it’s) a little weird, but it’s going to take a couple of weeks,” he explained. “It feels like when I walked in the facility, it still felt a bit like I’m going around and doing workouts and stuff like that. But yeah, it’s an unbelievable feeling.”

Calling his shot with Boston a “once in a lifetime opportunity,” Shulga related that he “couldn’t even tell what to feel” when his name was called.

“Everything was moving so fast,” said Shulga. “My agent — he was on the phone every minute; walking away, coming back, so it was kind of chaotic. But when I got to know that the Celtics were going to pick me, it was unbelievable. Unreal feeling.” The new two way player will have to earn his stripes with the Maine Celtics this summer in the G League, where he’ll likely spend most of his minutes for at least the first part of the 2025-26 regular season.

But a solid start, or steady growth, could very well see him earn some NBA minutes by season’s end with some luck and hard work. It may be a novel opportunity for Shulga at this stage of his career, but as a player who has worked his way to where he is now across a tougher path than most, there’s a very real chance he sees the court with Boston next season.

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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Max Shulga on what it was like to be drafted by the Celtics