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11 past and present Celtics players who were born in Massachusetts
The Celtics acquired Georges Niang. He's one of a few Massachusetts natives to actually appear on a Boston roster.
If the chances of making it to the NBA are unlikely, the chances of making it to the NBA coming from Massachusetts are minuscule.
According to Basketball Reference, there are only 47 Massachusetts-born NBA players in the history of the league.
The odds of getting to suit up for the hometown Celtics are even slimmer. Of those 47 players, ten wound up playing in a regular-season game for the Celtics.
Georges Niang, who was recently acquired in the Kristaps Porzingis trade, could become the 11th if he is still on the roster by opening night.
Here are a few notes on Niang and the other ten Massachusetts natives who played at least one game for the Celtics.
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Dana Barros
Barros is one of two Massachusetts natives to make an NBA All-Star team. The other is former Pistons big man Bill Laimbeer, who infamously clotheslined Larry Bird during the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals.
Barros, a 5-foot-11-inch point guard, played 14 seasons in the NBA and had two stints with the Celtics. He won the Most Improved Player award in 1995, the same year he made the All-Star team.
The Mattapan native starred at Xaverian and Boston College before the Seattle SuperSonics selected him in the first round of the 1989 NBA Draft. He signed with the Celtics during the 1995 offseason.
His best season with Boston was in 1996, when he averaged 13 points and 3.8 assists.
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Bob Bigelow
Bigelow, a Winchester native, was selected No. 13 overall by the Kansas City Kings in the 1975 NBA draft. The 6-foot-7-inch forward played in 94 games over four seasons in the NBA.
He had a brief stint with the Celtics in 1978, playing in four games, averaging 1.5 points.
He later found a passion for educating others about youth sports. He wrote a book in 2001 titled “Just Let the Kids Play: How to stop other adults from ruining your child’s fun and success in youth sports.”
He died in 2020 at the age of 66.
Jack Foley
Foley was a Worcester Native who played college basketball for Holy Cross, where he was a three-time All-American.
His nickname, “The Shot”, came from his prolific scoring ability. He averaged 33.3 points per game for the Crusaders during his senior season.
The Celtics selected the 6-foot-3-inch forward in the second round of the 1962 draft, but his professional career didn’t last long. He played 11 games over two seasons, five of which were with the Celtics.
Chris Herren
Herren, a Fall River native, briefly played college basketball at Boston College before he was kicked out after multiple failed drug tests.
The 6-foot-2-inch point guard continued his college basketball career at Fresno State and was selected by Denver in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft.
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Herren played one season with the Celtics in 2001. He appeared in 25 games and made seven starts under Rick Pitino before he was cut.
ESPN released “Unguarded,” a documentary about Herren’s career, in 2011.
Toby Kimball
Kimball was a Framingham native who became a three-time All-Yankee Conference selection at UConn.
The Celtics picked the 6-foot-8-inch forward in the third round of the 1965 draft. He played overseas in Italy for a year before joining the Celtics. He spent one season with Boston in 1966.
Kimball played nine seasons in the NBA with stops in San Diego, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. He averaged 6.1 points and 6.8 rebounds for his career.
Tony Lavelli
The Celtics picked Lavelli No. 4 overall in the 1949 draft. The Somerville native won the 1949 NCAA scoring title at Yale. He spent one season with the Celtics in 1949-50, averaging 8.8 points.
He played one more season with the Knicks before starting a lengthy career as a musician.
Lavelli was known for playing the accordion, and was even specially contracted to play halftime shows at the Boston Garden during his time as a player.
Georges Niang
Niang landed with the Celtics last week in a three-team deal that sent Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks.
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He grew up as a Celtics fan while living in Methuen, playing high school basketball at Tilton in New Hampshire and college basketball at Iowa State, where he was a two-time first-team All-Big 12 selection.
Niang has carved out a career as a sharpshooter off the bench. He has played a decade in the NBA. He’s a career 39.9 percent 3-point shooter, and has averaged 9.9 points per game. The Celtics are his sixth different team.
Lou Tsioropoulos
Tsioropoulos was a member of two Celtics championship teams (1957 and 1959) during his three seasons in the NBA.
The Lynn native played college basketball at Kentucky and was selected by the Celtics in the seventh round of the 1953 draft. His No. 16 jersey was retired by Wildcats, and Tsioropoulos is a member of the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame.
He also served in the Air Force before starting his NBA career with Boston.
Wayne Turner
Turner, a Boston native and Beaver Country Day alum, played college basketball under Rick Pitino at Kentucky.
He went undrafted in 1999 and played three games with the Celtics in 2000 while Pitino was coaching the team.
He later played for the Harlem Globetrotters and the New Zealand Breakers among other professional basketball teams.
Noah Vonleh
Vonleh spent the final season of his eight-year NBA career with the Celtics. He played in 23 games in 2023 and made one start.
The Salem native was a lottery pick (No. 9 overall) in 2014 after starring at Indiana. He played for eight different franchises.
Rick Weitzman
Weitzman, a Brookline High and Northeastern alum, played one season with the Celtics in 1968. Boston won the championship that year. Weitzman, a 6-foot-2-inch point guard, appeared in 25 games and averaged 1.3 points.
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After his playing career, Weitzman joined Johnny Most as a color commentator for Celtics radio broadcasts and later served as the team’s director of scouting.
He is in Northeastern’s Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
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