2026 first-round draft pick Chris Cenac Jr. of the Boston Celtics. Getty
The Boston Celtics had their bench depth put to the test Wednesday night, and they hung on to defeat a gritty Milwaukee Bucks team 109-102 at TD Garden with superstar Jayson Tatum on the bench for a rest day, and guard Payton Pritchard missing most of the second half with an eye injury.
Led by Paul George and Derrick White, a rotation that included Baylor Scheierman, Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, Sam Hauser, Hugo Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh let a 21-point halftime lead slip away, but hung on to scrape out a hard-fought win.
But one depth player left on the bench by coach Joe Mazzulla was the Celtics' 2026 first-round draft pick Chris Cenac Jr., and on Thursday the team quietly made a decision on the 19-year-old's role with the organization going forward.
Cenac Jr. is now headed to the G League, where the rookie will rack up valuable minutes with the Maine Celtics.
The Celtics assigned Cenac to Maine on Thursday , and the G League club opens its season Friday night, according to Boston Herald reporter Zack Cox.
This is not his first Maine stop. Cenac joined the team for a practice assignment alongside Dillon Mitchell on Nov. 4, then returned to the parent club, according to the Celtics. Mitchell, the 40th pick in June, is the other first-year player in Boston's rookie class.
Through three NBA appearances, Cenac has averaged 3.3 minutes and 2.7 points while grabbing one rebound per game and making three of his four shots. He scored his first NBA basket Oct. 26 in a win over the Chicago Bulls . In the preseason, he put up 12 points and eight rebounds over 19 minutes in a single game.
Getty2026 first-round draft pick Chris Cenac Jr. of the Boston Celtics.
Cenac was born Feb. 1, 2007, in New Orleans , and he is a LaPlace native who starred at Newman before rising to five-star status at Link Academy in Missouri. He started 36 of 37 games at Houston as a freshman, averaging 9.5 points and 7.9 rebounds as the Cougars went 30-7 and reached the Sweet 16. He led Houston in rebounding and recorded six double-doubles.
Boston selected him 27th overall on June 23 and signed him to a rookie contract July 6. In Las Vegas, he averaged 10.5 points and 8.0 rebounds across four Summer League games while shooting 36.6% from the field, including a double-double against Sacramento .
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens told reporters on draft night that Cenac has "a long way to go," according to CBS News . Stevens also called the rookie "energetic, plays hard, athletic, long."
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Roughly 62% of first-round picks from the 2024 and 2025 drafts had logged G League time by late October, including Matas Buzelis, Reed Sheppard and Jared McCain.
Boston used the same path under Danny Ainge, who ran basketball operations from 2003 to 2021. Guerschon Yabusele, taken 16th in 2016 , spent significant time with the Maine Red Claws, the affiliate's former name, before contributing in Boston. Robert Williams III, the 27th pick in 2018, grew into a key rotation player.
Stevens, who took over the front office in 2021, has made fewer first-round picks because he has traded many of them. His own selections include Baylor Scheierman at No. 30 in 2024, Hugo González at No. 28 in 2025 and Cenac. The organization has used the G League in their player development system for years.
The Celtics view Cenac as a long-term project in the frontcourt . RotoBaller 's Andrew Ball projected him to spend the bulk of his first season in Maine, and Bleacher Report 's Jonathan Wasserman called him an "ideal candidate for the G League," where post touches and three-point looks can build confidence.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson has predicted Cenac can grow into a starter-caliber player or role player in Boston, according to NESN .
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This article was originally published on HEAVY
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