Gonzaga’s Anton Watson drafted by Boston Celtics in 2024 NBA Draft

Watson was selected by the reigning NBA champions with the 54th overall pick

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Gonzaga’s Anton Watson was selected with the 54th overall pick of the 2024 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics on Thursday.

Based on notable mock drafts, the Spokane native was expected to go undrafted despite what he had accomplished during his five seasons at Gonzaga. Heading into the second round, the 6-foot-8 forward was the 45th best available player on ESPN's big board. Prior to the draft, Watson was 67th on NBADraft.net while The Athletic had him at No. 64 on its big board.

Watson was once named to the All-WCC first team and finished as the only player in program history to tally over 1,400 points, 700 rebounds, 200 assists and 215 steals in a career. His postseason resume alone is also impressive — four Sweet 16 games, two Elite Eight games, a Final Four and a National Championship game appearance while setting the program record for steals in the NCAA Tournament (21). 

In particular, one of Watson’s greatest strengths at Gonzaga was his ability to be an impactful player without the ball in his hands. Of course the defensive versatility and guarding multiple positions was noticeable, but also his timely cuts away from the ball and his improvements as a passer were major upsides to his game as a fifth-year senior. Watson was also very active on the boards (career-high 7.1 rebounds per game last season) thanks to a strong second jump.

The athleticism doesn’t stand out, though the results from the G League Elite Camp would suggest its trending in the right direction. Watson put up better numbers in each of the strength and agility tests compared to last year, as he recorded a 32.5-inch max vertical (29.0 in 2023) and a 27.0 standing vertical, a whole two inches better than last year. He also improved his lane shuttle left time by .21 seconds and his lane shuttle right test by .06.

Watson ran the lane sprint test in 11.35 seconds (11.42 in 2023) and clocked in at 3.45 seconds in the three-quarter court sprint, .07 seconds faster than a year ago.

An ankle injury during the camp’s first scrimmage cut Watson’s combine experience short. While untimely for sure, he still managed to hold pre-draft workouts with several teams leading up to the draft, including the Celtics.

“It was kind of hard, because my ankle ... I didn't really have too much explosiveness, but you only get an hour to show what you can do,” Watson said shortly after his workout with the Atlanta Hawks. “It feels good right now. It kind of took a while to get back to feeling like 100% because I didn't really have too much time to recover, but right now, like a couple of days ago, it started feeling a lot better.”

The general consensus from NBA scouts was that Watson hadn’t shown enough consistency as a 3-point shooter in college. In 2023-24 he made a career-high 41.2% of his outside shots, though he did it on low volume (1.5 attempts per game). 

“[NBA scouts and general managers] kind of said, to find my place in the league or my calling card is gonna be like one of those guys that does a little bit of everything,” Watson said. “They've seen that I’ve improved from the 3-point line, but they want me to take more of them.”

Watson could have the opportunity to do just that next month at the NBA Summer League.

Last season, Watson's Gonzaga teammate Julian Strawther went 29th overall to the Denver Nuggets just a few weeks after the franchise won its first NBA title.