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The Boston Celtics really did draft Desmond Bane before he ever became part of Orlando’s blockbuster trade story.

 As his profile skyrockets in the NBA Play-in vs. the Charlotte Hornets, this is not just a recap of the Magic’s June 2025 swing for one of the league’s better two-way guards. It is also a legitimate Celtics what-if, because Boston selected Bane with the No. 30 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft before moving his rights in a three-team deal.

Orlando then changed the context in a big way. The Magic officially acquired Bane from Memphis in June 2025, sending out Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four first-round picks and a pick swap. That is not the kind of move a team makes for a marginal upgrade. It is the kind of move that signals urgency in the Eastern Conference.

Boston drafted Bane, but the pick did not stay in Boston

The transaction path matters here because it is the backbone of the headline.

NBA.com’s official 2020 draft results show that the Celtics drafted Bane at No. 30. The league’s draft trade tracker then shows where he actually went: Memphis received Bane and Mario Hezonja, Portland received Enes Kanter, and Boston received two future second-round picks from the Trail Blazers.

So, yes, Bane quite literally could have been a Celtic. That is not speculative framing. It is the plain draft-night record. Many teams, beyond the Celtics did not value Bane at the level of his current production, and many are surely wondering how he fell so low in the draft.

Desmond Bane trade made it clear why Orlando appealed to him

Bane himself has already explained why Orlando made sense.

In Magic team coverage after the trade, Bane said the fit matched how he sees himself as a player. “That’s my DNA,” Bane said. “I’m a gritty guy. That’s how I’ve made it to this point. You look up and down the roster and we all have similar makeups.”

Orlando did not just trade for shooting. The Magic believed Bane fit their style, temperament and timeline.

That belief has shown up in how the organization talks about him, too. After a February 2026 win over the Clippers, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said, “You cannot say enough about Desmond Bane. He is just a flat-out winner.”

Why the Celtics angle matters now

The Magic paid a huge price for Bane because they believed he could sharpen the offense around Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner while keeping the team’s edge intact. Reuters noted that Orlando sent out four unprotected first-round picks and a swap, underlining just how aggressive the franchise was in chasing him.

For Celtics fans, that makes the old draft-night decision feel more relevant than it did when Bane was simply developing in Memphis.

Back in 2020, he was the No. 30 pick Boston moved for future seconds. Now he is a proven NBA scorer, a high-level floor spacer and a player Orlando viewed as important enough to justify one of the boldest trades of that offseason.

That does not mean every draft-night miss needs to become a regret post. But this one has a clean reason to be revisited. Boston once held the pick that became Bane. Orlando now holds the player. And because the Magic treated him like a difference-maker, the Celtics’ old what-if is no longer just about the past.