The Celtics faced a Thursday deadline to fill two of their three vacant roster spots.
They did so — at least temporarily.
Boston signed guards Dalano Banton and John Tonje to 10-day contracts ahead of its Thursday night matchup with the Golden State Warriors, restoring the club to the NBA-mandated minimum of 14 players on standard deals.
The Celtics had been playing with 12 rostered players after trading away Anfernee Simons, Josh Minott, Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline (and acquiring Nikola Vucevic and Tonje in return). The final spot on their 15-man roster remains vacant, as it has all season.
Banton is a familiar face. The 26-year-old spent part of the 2023-24 season with the Celtics, appearing in 24 games with one start before being dealt to Portland ahead of the 2024 trade deadline.
A deep reserve for the eventual NBA champions (7.1 minutes, 2.3 points, 1.5 rebounds per game), Banton took on a much larger role with the Trail Blazers, averaging 16.7 points and nearly 30 minutes per game after the trade. Last season, he saw action in 67 games for Portland with seven starts, averaging 8.3 points, 2.4 assists and 2.0 rebounds while struggling as a shooter (39.1%; 32.4% from 3-point range).
The 6-foot-8 Banton has logged 218 career appearances across stints with the Toronto Raptors, Celtics, Blazers and, most recently, the Los Angeles Clippers, who signed him to a 10-day contract on Feb. 8. Before his two-game Clippers tenure, he was playing for the San Antonio Spurs’ G League affiliate, for which he averaged 24.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game while shooting 43.9% from the field and 32.3% from three.
Tonje is a second-round rookie out of Wisconsin who was playing on a two-way contract. The Celtics acquired him from the Utah Jazz in the Boucher trade, and he posted solid numbers in his first two appearances for Boston’s G League squad. In a loss to the Motor City Cruise last week, Tonje started for the Maine Celtics alongside fellow two-way guard Max Shulga and tallied 29 points on 11-of-23 shooting (4-of-11 from three), four rebounds, one assist and one steal.
As of Thursday, the 24-year-old Tonje had yet to make his NBA debut. More of a scorer than a facilitator, he averaged 18.1 points on 43.9% shooting and 1.0 assists per game for Utah’s farm club before his trade to Boston.
“Tonje’s an older guy coming out of college that knows how to play and score,” Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said in his post-deadline news conference on Feb. 6.
Adding Banton and Tonje addressed a stated need for the Celtics, as Stevens said the team planned to bring in another ball-handler after trading Simons. And signing them to 10-day contracts rather than rest-of-season deals allowed Boston to remain just below the NBA’s luxury tax line — the primary motivation for its decisions to ship out non-rotation players Boucher, Minott and Tillman.
The Celtics, who have shed more than $350 million from their payroll since the summer between salaries and luxury tax penalties, came out of the trade deadline less than $1 million beneath the tax threshold.
With these 10-days set to expire next weekend — after games against the Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets and Brooklyn Nets — the Celtics will continue to piece together the bottom of their roster as they navigate the final two months before the postseason.
Any players they add, Stevens said, likely won’t be part of head coach Joe Mazzulla’s regular rotation.
“I would say that what we will be looking for will not be somebody that we’re going to ask to come in and be a part of the everyday rotation when we’re fully healthy,” Stevens said on Feb. 6. “But we also need people that can come in and accept that and be ready to help us move this thing down the hill and forward. Anybody that comes in here will know that, because that will be well communicated. Sometimes that actually eliminates maybe people with bigger reputations or whatever the case may be, but it brings in the right person for your team.
“So that’s what we’ll look for, and I think we’ll evaluate in-house, as we always do. When I say in-house, I mean two-ways in Maine and G League and buyouts from the NBA. It’s not about what somebody’s done or what their reputation is, it’s more about, do they want to be here, and do they want to add to us winning?”
Wing Ron Harper Jr., who’s seen the most NBA playing time of the Celtics’ three two-way players, did not have his contract converted Thursday, though he could at a later date. Harper logged more than 15 minutes in three of Boston’s last four games — including his first career NBA start — and can continue playing for the Celtics on his current deal, as players on two-ways can be active for up to 50 NBA games in a given season.
In the same news conference, Stevens called Harper “a stud” and “one of the best players in the G League.”
“He’s a really good player, and he’s been great for us for the better part of two years, somewhere within our system,” he said. “With that said, I think the biggest thing is seeing how this all looks.”