Dragan Bender to reportedly work out for Celtics before NBA Draft

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Dragan Bender attends a training session at the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv on March 16, 2016. Jack Guezjack/Getty Images

By PJ Wright

June 14, 2016

1 minute to read

Highly touted Croatian prospect Dragan Bender will work out for the Boston Celtics two days prior to the NBA Draft, according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe.

Dragan Bender is scheduled to come to Boston for a workout on June 21, according to a league source.

— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) June 13, 2016

The 7-foot-1-inch big man is also scheduled to work out with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday and the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, according to veteran basketball reporter David Pick.

Source: Dragan Bender has workouts scheduled in Minnesota on June 16, Phoenix June 18, and Boston June 21.

— David Pick (@IAmDPick) June 13, 2016

The Celtics brass has already observed Bender play a few times. During a scouting trip last month, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge watched the seven-footer go through a practice with his Israeli team (Maccabi Tel Aviv) and then an individual one-on-one workout with his brother, Ivan, who will enroll in the University of Maryland in December, according to Pick.

“We had seen him play in person in games,” Danny Ainge said on June 1 following the scouting trip, “but because he’s not playing a major role as an 18-year-old in a tough Israeli league, we were able to watch a practice that we thought was more beneficial than what we had seen in games.

Bender, 18, just recently completed his professional basketball season and is projected to land somewhere in the top 10 of this year’s NBA Draft. He averaged 5.5 points and 3.0 rebounds in 23 Israeli Basketball Super League games this season via Real GM.