2016–17 Boston Celtics season

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College / Club
1	3	Jaylen Brown	SF	United States	California
1	16	Guerschon Yabusele	PF	France	Rouen Métropole
1	23	Ante Žižić	C	Croatia	Cibona Zagreb
2	31	Deyonta Davis	PF / C	United States	Michigan State
2	35	Rade Zagorac	SG / SF	Serbia	Mega Leks
2	45	Demetrius Jackson	PG	United States	Notre Dame
2	51	Ben Bentil	PF	Ghana	Providence
2	58	Abdel Nader	SF	Egypt	Iowa State

The Boston Celtics hold a modern-day league record for most NBA draft picks held in the draft ever since the league modified the NBA draft to being only two rounds long with eight total draft picks. Their top selection was acquired by the Brooklyn Nets this season due to them not only holding the third-worst record in the season, but also having it as part of their payment for trading Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in 2013. Their middle first round selection, meanwhile, was recorded by the Dallas Mavericks trading it away to Boston in 2014 in order to acquire Rajon Rondo and Dwight Powell. The last first round selection they hold, though, is the one they got for having one of the best regular season records last season. Meanwhile, every second round selection for the Celtics this year was acquired via trade, although their own second round selection (which would have been Pick 52 this year) would be traded away to the Utah Jazz.

For the first round of the draft, the Celtics drafted Jaylen Brown from the University of California, Guerschon Yabusele from France, and Ante Žižić from Croatia. In the second round, however, Boston took the surprise lottery-level talent that was last remaining in the draft with Deyonta Davis from Michigan State University, Rade Zagorac from Serbia, Demetrius Jackson (a guy who was also a considerable first round level talent) from the University of Notre Dame, the first ever Ghanaian taken for an NBA draft in Ben Bentil (another player that was considered as a potential first round talent, although he was more projected to be late in the first round himself) from Providence College, and the Egyptian Abdel Nader from Iowa State University. Deyonta Davis and Rade Zagorac would be the only players whose draft rights would be traded the night of the draft, as they would be going to the Memphis Grizzlies on draft night for a 2018 second round selection. Meanwhile, both Guerschon Yabusele and Ante Žižić would continue to remain overseas in China and Croatia respectively for one more season, with the rest of the players signing contracts with the team, save for Ben Bentil and Abdel Nader, with the latter heading off to the Maine Red Claws and the former travelling to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (three different times) and the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in China before being a part of the Dallas Mavericks later on in the season.