After the Celtics drafted Marcus Smart sixth overall in 2014, they also drafted James Young 17th overall out of Kentucky.

Young’s NBA career didn’t go as planned after a one-and-done year at Kentucky where he averaged 14.3 points on 40.7 percent shooting from the field and 34.9 percent shooting from behind the arc.

Young spent 89 games total in Boston over the course of three years and 35 in Maine with the then Red Claws.

He became a free agent in 2017 and joined the New Orleans Pelicans for Summer League and then signed a training camp deal with Milwaukee and ended up playing with their G-league team for one year.

Young took his talents overseas for the first time in 2019, signing with an Israeli team for the 2019-20 season where he was the league’s top scorer at 20.5 points per game.

The following season, Young was back in the G-League with the Knicks. He decided to go back overseas, playing with teams in Israel and Greece from 2021-2023.

Young most recently signed a deal with an Italian team, Treviso Basket for this upcoming season.

Despite an extremely rough start to his career, Young hasn’t given up on his dream and has established a pretty great career for himself looking on it almost 10-years later now.

Follow us on Twitter @CelticsFiles

Follow me on Twitter @Trombino20

Follow us on Threads @CelticsFiles

Follow us on Instagram @CelticsFiles

Photo Credit: Maddie Meyer, Getty Images