![\"Orlando](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2263426455-1.jpg\")
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The Boston Celtics<\/a> really did draft Desmond Bane<\/a> before he ever became part of Orlando\u2019s blockbuster trade story.<\/p>\n \u00a0As his profile skyrockets in the NBA Play-in vs. the Charlotte Hornets<\/a>, this is not just a recap of the Magic\u2019s June 2025 swing for one of the league\u2019s better two-way guards. It is also a legitimate Celtics what-if, because Boston selected Bane with the No. 30 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft before moving his rights in a three-team deal.<\/p>\n Orlando then changed the context in a big way. The Magic<\/a> officially acquired Bane from Memphis in June 2025, sending out Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four first-round picks and a pick swap. That is not the kind of move a team makes for a marginal upgrade. It is the kind of move that signals urgency in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n Portland is acquiring Boston\u2019s Enes Kanter in a three-way deal with Memphis, sources tell ESPN. Memphis gets Mario Hezonjia and 30th pick (Desmond Bane) from draft night deal as part of trade too. Celtics get a future Memphis draft consideration.<\/p>\n Boston drafted Bane, but the pick did not stay in Boston<\/p>\n The transaction path matters here because it is the backbone of the headline.<\/p>\n NBA.com\u2019s official 2020 draft results<\/a> show that the Celtics drafted Bane at No. 30. The league\u2019s draft trade tracker then shows where he actually went: Memphis received Bane and Mario Hezonja, Portland received Enes Kanter, and Boston received two future second-round picks from the Trail Blazers<\/a>.<\/p>\n So, yes, Bane quite literally could have been a Celtic. That is not speculative framing. It is the plain draft-night record. Many teams, beyond the Celtics did not value Bane at the level of his current production, and many are surely wondering how he fell so low in the draft.<\/p>\n BREAKING: The Memphis Grizzlies are trading Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four unprotected first-round picks and one first-round pick swap, sources tell ESPN. <\/p>\n Desmond Bane trade made it clear why Orlando appealed to him<\/p>\n Bane himself has already explained why Orlando made sense.<\/p>\n In Magic team coverage after the trade,<\/a> Bane said the fit matched how he sees himself as a player. \u201cThat\u2019s my DNA,\u201d Bane said. \u201cI\u2019m a gritty guy. That\u2019s how I\u2019ve made it to this point. You look up and down the roster and we all have similar makeups.\u201d<\/p>\n Orlando did not just trade for shooting. The Magic believed Bane fit their style, temperament and timeline.<\/p>\n That belief has shown up in how the organization talks about him, too. After a February 2026 win over the <\/a>Clippers<\/a>, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said, \u201cYou cannot say enough about Desmond Bane. He is just a flat-out winner.\u201d<\/p>\n Why the Celtics angle matters now<\/p>\n The Magic paid a huge price for Bane because they believed he could sharpen the offense around Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner while keeping the team\u2019s edge intact. Reuters noted that Orlando<\/a> sent out four unprotected first-round picks and a swap, underlining just how aggressive the franchise was in chasing him.<\/p>\n For Celtics fans, that makes the old draft-night decision feel more relevant than it did when Bane was simply developing in Memphis.<\/p>\n Back in 2020, he was the No. 30 pick Boston moved for future seconds. Now he is a proven NBA scorer, a high-level floor spacer and a player Orlando viewed as important enough to justify one of the boldest trades of that offseason.<\/p>\n That does not mean every draft-night miss needs to become a regret post. But this one has a clean reason to be revisited. Boston once held the pick that became Bane. Orlando now holds the player. And because the Magic treated him like a difference-maker, the Celtics\u2019 old what-if is no longer just about the past.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tErik Anderson<\/a> is an award-winning sports journalist covering the NBA, MLB and NFL for Heavy.com. He also focuses on the trading card market. His work has appeared in nationally-recognized outlets including The New York Times, Associated Press , USA Today, and ESPN. More about Erik Anderson<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Celtics\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Boston Celtics really did draft Desmond Bane before he ever became part of Orlando\u2019s blockbuster trade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-712778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116422585680656705","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712778","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=712778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}