{"id":55105,"date":"2025-05-25T04:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T04:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/55105\/"},"modified":"2025-05-25T04:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T04:02:11","slug":"2025-nba-draft-thunder-celtics-host-duke-prospect-for-workout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/55105\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 NBA Draft: Thunder, Celtics Host Duke Prospect For Workout"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week has been a big one for the Duke Blue Devils men\u2019s basketball program. They managed to extract a commitment<\/a> from Italian wing Dame Sarr, the top international prospect. Sarr is projected to start alongside five-star forward Cam Boozer, the son of former NBA star Carlos Boozer<\/a>. However, they\u2019ll have to make due without Cedric Coward, a now former commit who has decided to keep his name in the 2025 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

Over the past two seasons, Coward\u2019s averaged 15.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 1.0 steal per game. In that stretch, he converted 38.7 percent of his 3s. In his abbreviated 2024-25 campaign, he averaged 17.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.7 blocks, and 0.8 steals per game. This came with him converting 40.0 percent of his 3s.<\/p>\n

A heady scorer with soft touch, defensive upside and ideal length, the Fresno native not only looks the part on paper, he has the game to match<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thunder, Celtics Host Cedric Coward For Private Draft Workout<\/p>\n

In the same way that players like Oklahoma City Thunder swingman Jalen Williams<\/a> snuck up the draft board, Coward is a prospect who\u2019s getting traction<\/a> at just the right time. With a blend of physical tools and basketball skills that project nicely at the next level, several teams have queued up to see what the hubbub is about. In fact, the 21-year-old \u201chas visited two NBA teams<\/a> for private one-on-zero workouts \u2014 the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder \u2014 and has worked out in Los Angeles in front of another seven teams that came to evaluate him,\u201d per ESPN insider Jonathan Givony.<\/p>\n

\"\"May 14, 2025; Chicago, Il, USA; Cedric Coward talks to the media during the 2025 NBA Draft Combine at Marriott Marquis Chicago. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking for a team that wants to take a chance on me,\u201d Coward tells Givony. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten really positive feedback. A lot of teams have been coy, not showing exactly how they feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s a guarantee or not,\u201d he adds, \u201cthere\u2019s still work ahead of me\u2026 If I am 1 or 59, it doesn\u2019t really matter. There\u2019s always work to be done. It doesn\u2019t matter what spot. It\u2019s more about what team will give me the opportunity to show what I can do on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of note, the Thunder have the No. 15, No. 24, and No. 44 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. The Celtics have the No. 28 and No. 32 pick.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City Thunder<\/p>\n

As previously mentioned, the Thunder are a team that has demonstrated their ability to find a needle in a haystack.<\/p>\n

However, their scouts are among the best in the business in a general sense. Despite being the youngest team<\/a> in the NBA, they\u2019ve had the top record in the West two seasons in a row. They\u2019re currently in the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2016-17, their last season with Kevin Durant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, if the Thunder have their eye on Coward, that\u2019s a good sign. As it relates to his NBA future, it\u2019s even better, as OKC typically puts their young players in a position to succeed. That\u2019s not just with regard to how their utilized but the efficacy of their player development program.<\/p>\n

So far as his basketball fit, Oklahoma City places a lot of value in the 3-ball. In fact, they ranked 10th in 3-point attempts (38.8) in 2024-25. On a basic level, Coward fits because 49.2 percent of his shots came from beyond the arc in 2024-25. His shot profile even matches with regards to his free-throw rate (50.8 percent).<\/p>\n

Boston Celtics<\/p>\n

Unlike the Thunder, Boston isn\u2019t a team that\u2019s primarily built itself through the draft.<\/p>\n

More than anything else, Celtics president Brad Stevens has looked around the league to find complementary pieces for Jayson Tatum<\/a> and Jaylen Brown<\/a>. However, they have had success with homegrown players, like Payton Pritchard<\/a> and Sam Hauser<\/a>. Derrick White<\/a>\u2019s evolution speaks to their developmental capabilities as well.<\/p>\n

With that being said, Boston sounds like a team that\u2019s looking to shed salary. To that point, they might move Jrue Holiday<\/a>, who\u2019ll turn 35 this summer. If so, they\u2019ll need to replace his outside shooting and two-way playmaking with a more affordable alternative. It\u2019s possible that Coward could help fill that void.<\/p>\n

Even if not though, Coward\u2019s shot-selection fits the the Celtics as much as the Thunder. Indeed, Boston averaged more 3-pointers (48.2) than any team last season. Meanwhile, they struggled to generate free-throws (19.1 per game), finishing dead last in that category.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Rich Barnes-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week has been a big one for the Duke Blue Devils men\u2019s basketball program. They managed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,3522,1906,699,691,364,2038,6,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-55105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cedric-coward","10":"tag-dame-sarr","11":"tag-duke-basketball","12":"tag-duke-blue-devils","13":"tag-jalen-williams","14":"tag-jrue-holiday","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114566486009143980","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}