On this day in Boston Celtics history, the decorated ball club signed forward Xavier McDaniel as an unrestricted free agent. McDaniel played his collegiate basketball with the Wichita State Shockers, with whom he was the NCAA’s national scoring leader in 1985 and rebounding leader in both 1983 and 1985. McDaniel was a consensus first-team All-American in 1985 as well.
The former Shocker was taken by the (then) Seattle Supersonics (now, Oklahoma City Thunder) in the 1985 NBA draft with the fourth pick, and McDaniel finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting behind future Hall of Fame big man Patrick Ewing.
Buy Celtics TicketsThe Columbia, South Carolina, native instead made the All-Rookie first team as a consolation prize.
The 6-foot-7 forward played in parts of six seasons with Seattle, part of one season with the Phoenix Suns, and one full season with the New York Knicks before joining the Celtics.
He played three seasons with Boston between 1992 and 1995, averaging 11.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game with the team.
“X wasn’t the perfect position fit,” Celtics’ executive vice president Dave Gavitt said of the signing at the time via the New York Times’ Clifton Brown.
“But we felt he brought us something that would make us a better team.”
After his time with the Celtics, McDaniel played one season overseas with Iraklis Thessaloniki of the FIBA EuroLeague.
After that, he finished his NBA career with the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets, playing two seasons before hanging it up as a player
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