On this day in 2017, Boston Celtics All-Star shooting guard Jayson Tatum was signed to the team for a rookie scale, four-year, $30,073,320 contract.
Tatum was drafted by the Celtics with the third overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, acquired by team president Danny Ainge by trading back from the first overall pick of the draft with the Philadelphia 76ers in one of the better trades of his career.
A product of the Duke Blue Devils, Tatum has since played two full seasons with Boston and nearly so his third, in which he won his first election to an All-Star game.
He has averaged 17.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists over his career with the Celtics.
Boston also signed Croatian center Ante Zizic to a three-year, $5,879,760 contract. Zizic was drafted with the 23rd overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, but would not play with the parent club, instead spending his time with the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics’ G League developmental affiliate.
He would be traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers with with Jae Crowder, Isaiah Thomas and draft considerations as part of the deal that brought Kyrie Irving to the Celtics in 2017.
It is also the date of the 1947 Basketball Association of America (BAA) Draft, the very first draft in the history of what would soon become the NBA. It was held in Detroit, Michigan and saw Boston take three players of note.
The first was Edwin “Bulbs” Ehlers, a 6-foot-3 forward and guard out of Purdue with the third overall pick who played two seasons for the Celtics, averaging 8.1 points and 1.8 assists per game (rebounds were not yet recorded).
Boston also drafted 6-foot-2 guard and forward Gene Stump out of DePaul with the 23rd overall pick.
Stump would play two seasons with the Celtics, averaging 6.3 points per game before he had his contract sold to the then-Minneapolis Lakers in 1949.
Finally, Boston also drafted forward and center Jack Hewson with the 50th pick of the draft out of Temple.
The New Jersey native played 24 games for the Celtics in which he recorded 2.7 points per game.
