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2016–17 Boston Celtics season

The 2016–17 Boston Celtics season was the 71st season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team obtained the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2008 when they won the NBA title. At 53–29, they finished with the lowest winning percentage of a No. 1 seed since the Detroit Pistons in 2007.

In the playoffs, the Celtics defeated the Chicago Bulls in the first round in six games, advancing to the Semifinals, where they then defeated the Washington Wizards in seven games, advancing to the Eastern Conference finals, where they lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games. Despite falling short in their quest to win an 18th NBA title, the season was a success, as it saw the team make its deepest playoff run since 2012.

Isaiah Thomas was voted to play in the 2017 All-Star Game.

Following the season, Avery Bradley was traded to the Detroit Pistons, Kelly Olynyk signed with the Miami Heat, and both Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder were traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, ending the Isaiah Thomas era in Boston in exchange for Kyrie Irving. Jaylen Brown was also added to the roster.

Draft picks

The Boston Celtics hold a modern-day league record with eight picks in the 2016 draft, the most picks held in a single draft since the NBA modified the draft to two rounds. Their top selection was acquired from the Brooklyn Nets this season due to them not only holding the third-worst record in the season but also having it as part of their payment for trading Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in 2013. Their middle first-round selection, meanwhile, was acquired from the Dallas Mavericks in the 2014 trade that saw Rajon Rondo and Dwight Powell shipped out of Boston. The last first-round selection they held was their own. Meanwhile, every second-round selection for the Celtics that year was acquired via trade while their own second-round selection (which would have been Pick 52 this year) was traded away to the Utah Jazz.

For the first round of the draft, the Celtics drafted Jaylen Brown from the University of California, Guerschon Yabusele from France, and Ante Žižić from Croatia. In the second round, however, Boston took the surprise lottery-level talent that was last remaining in the draft with Deyonta Davis from Michigan State University, Rade Zagorac from Serbia, Demetrius Jackson (a guy who was also a considerable first-round level talent) from the University of Notre Dame, the first ever Ghanaian taken for an NBA draft in Ben Bentil (another player that was considered as a potential first-round talent, although he was more projected to be late in the first round himself) from Providence College, and the Egyptian Abdel Nader from Iowa State University. Deyonta Davis and Rade Zagorac would be the only players whose draft rights would be traded the night of the draft, as they would be going to the Memphis Grizzlies on draft night for a 2018 second-round selection. Meanwhile, both Guerschon Yabusele and Ante Žižić would continue to remain overseas in China and Croatia respectively for one more season, with the rest of the players signing contracts with the team, save for Ben Bentil and Abdel Nader, with the latter heading off to the Maine Red Claws and the former traveling to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (three different times) and the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in China before being a part of the Dallas Mavericks later on in the season.