THURSDAY, 5:54pm: A multi-year contract with Johnson has been announced through a team press release.
WEDNESDAY, 12:29pm: Negotiations continue between the Celtics and Johnson, and Boston is considering attaching an extra season onto the deal, reports Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. Johnson’s agent, Marc Cornstein, tells Murphy that other teams have shown interest in his client.
10:00am: The Celtics plan to give swingman Chris Johnson a deal for the rest of the season when his second 10-day contract expires after tonight, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Johnson has impressed the C’s during his stint with the club, but Boston was unsure about keeping him because of its proximity to the luxury tax.
The 23-year-old Pinnacle Management Corp. client jumped into Boston’s rotation in his first appearance after signing his initial 10-day deal, and averaged 7.6 points in 21.5 minutes per game while shooting 40.0% from three-point range. He had his shortest outing as a Celtic last night against the Sixers, playing slightly more than three minutes, but he’s apparently done enough to convince the team to keep him.
Boston is roughly $1MM away from the luxury tax threshold, and the addition of a minimum-salary deal for the rest of the season for Johnson would draw the team $353,717 closer to that $71.748MM line if the contract begins Friday. It would also give the C’s a 14th guaranteed contract, meaning they could only absorb one extra player in a deadline deal.