The Celtics reportedly entered Round 2 of the 2025 NBA Draft with a specific target in mind. After failing to land him, they pivoted.

Boston planned to take St. Joseph’s forward Rasheer Fleming with the 32nd overall pick Thursday night, according to a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania, but Phoenix beat Brad Stevens to the punch. The Suns traded two future second-round picks to Minnesota to vault from No. 36 to No. 31 and grab Fleming.

With Fleming off the board, the Celtics opted to trade the next selection — and received a hefty return for it. The Orlando Magic gave up the 46th and 57th picks in this draft, plus second-rounders in 2026 and 2027, to move up to No. 32 and take French wing Noah Penda.

The swap added to the Celtics’ growing stockpile of second-round picks. They also acquired two future seconds from Portland earlier in the week as part of the trade package for Jrue Holiday, which was headlined by guard Anfernee Simons. The Kristaps Porzingis trade one day later featured an exchange of second-rounders, with Boston also getting forward Georges Niang from Atlanta.

At No. 46, the Celtics selected Kentucky’s Amari Williams, a British big man who will compete for minutes in their new-look center rotation. At No. 57, they nabbed VCU guard Max Shulga.

On Wednesday, the Celtics used the 28th overall pick to select wing Hugo Gonzalez. A high-motor 19-year-old from Spain, Gonzalez just finished a season with European club Real Madrid, where he was a seldom-used bench player on a team loaded with NBA alums.

Tatum, Brown progressing

When the Celtics announced Tatum had undergone season-ending Achilles surgery, they did not share a projected timeline for his return. Six weeks later, they still were not ready to do so.

Though president of basketball operations Brad Stevens offered positive updates on Tatum and Celtics co-star Jaylen Brown during his draft-night news conference, he declined to say when the team expects to have the former back on the court.

“We don’t, and we won’t. We won’t put a projected timeline on him for a long, long time,” Stevens said Wednesday. “As we look at it, there’s no reason to. It’s baby steps right now. He’s actually progressed great, but I don’t know what that means with regard to projected timelines. And that’ll be in consultation with him and (Celtics staffers) Nick (Sang) and Phil Coles and everybody else to make sure he is — when he hits the court — he is fully ready and fully healthy. And that will be the priority.”

Tatum ruptured his Achilles tendon during Game 4 of the Celtics’ second-round playoff series against the New York Knicks. He underwent surgery the following morning in New York City — by the same surgeon who repaired Kevin Durant’s Achilles in 2019 — and is set to miss at least a significant portion of the 2025-26 season.

Tatum’s father, Justin, reportedly told ESPN’s Marc Spears shortly after the injury that his son could return in eight to nine months, but it’s unclear whether the Celtics share that outlook. Achilles injuries often sideline players for 12 months or more. Though Tatum’s age, previously clean injury history and speedy surgery could accelerate his rehab, Stevens made clear that Boston will not rush its 27-year-old superstar back.

“We have to prioritize JT’s health and make sure that he comes back fully strong,” Stevens said.

Brown faces a much shorter recovery period after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery earlier this month. The Celtics’ longest-tenured player, who played through pain for the final three months of the season, already has resumed light on-court work and is expected to be fully cleared well before training camp begins in September.

Both players have been frequent visitors to the Celtics’ Auerbach Center practice facility this offseason, according to Stevens.

“Jayson has been here pretty much every day,” Stevens said. “Jaylen traveled a little bit before he got the surgery and has been back most of the time after, and he’s doing great. His rehab looks good. He was actually on the court the other day doing some ball-handling and light work around the rim. Nothing big movement-wise yet, but I think his timeline — again, we said (he’d) be ready for training camp, and I think he’ll probably be going full well ahead of that. So we’ll see.

“We’ve seen both those guys very frequently. Jaylen’s been here working with Drew Moore on all his rehab, and Jayson with Nick. It’s usually the time of year I don’t see those guys a lot. They usually rest and get away. But they both prioritize getting better and rehabbing and after a long season. I appreciate that about them.”

Horford, Kornet wanted

The list of Celtics champions who will be playing for new teams in 2025-26 already includes Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. Stevens hopes Al Horford and Luke Kornet aren’t added to that list.

Horford and Kornet are Boston’s top two impending free agents, and Stevens said re-signing both big men is an offseason priority.

“I think the biggest thing is, as you look at the rest of the team and what we’re trying to do, there is no question our priorities would be to bring Al and Luke back,” he said. “Those guys are huge parts of this organization. They’re going to have, I’m sure, plenty of options all over the place, and that’s well-deserved, but I think that would be a priority. At the same time, I don’t want to put pressure on them. It’s their call ultimately. But, yeah, we would love to have those guys back.”

As Stevens noted, both players should have strong markets this offseason, and both were noncommittal about their futures in Boston during end-of-season news conferences last month. Retaining at least one would go a long way toward stabilizing a position group that lost its most dynamic member when Porzingis was traded to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.

Trading Porzingis and Holiday afforded the Celtics some much-needed financial flexibility, theoretically increasing the amount they can offer Horford and Kornet. Horford earned $9.5 million in salary this past season. Kornet played on a one-year, veteran-minimum deal worth $2.1 million.

The only Celtics bigs currently under contract for 2025-26 are Neemias Queta, who saw action in 62 games with six starts this season, and seldom-used Xavier Tillman, who played sparingly as one of the last players on Boston’s bench.

Torrey Craig, Drew Peterson and Miles Norris round out Boston’s crop of internal free agents. Craig fit in well in the locker room as a trade-deadline addition but couldn’t crack Mazzulla’s postseason rotation. Peterson and Norris were two-way players who spent most of their time in the G League.

Teams can begin negotiating with external free agents on June 30.