3:38pm: Watson’s two-way contract with the Celtics is official, according to the team (Twitter link).
12:39pm: Second-round pick Anton Watson will sign a two-way contract with the Celtics, a league source tells Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).
The 23-year-old small forward was the 54th selection in this year’s draft after playing five seasons at Gonzaga. He averaged career highs of 14.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season while shooting 57.8% from the field and 41.2% from three-point range.
Watson played for Boston’s entry in the Las Vegas Summer League, putting up 11.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in five games.
Watson is eligible to appear in up to 50 NBA games on his two-way deal, but he’ll likely spend most of his rookie season in the G League given the quality of the Celtics’ roster. Once Watson’s signing is complete, he’ll join JD Davison and Drew Peterson as Boston’s two-way players.
STOP WITH THE “TWO-WAY CONTRACTS” WITH G-LEAGUE RANDOM’S AND GET DWIGHT HOWARD AND OTHER VETERANS BACK IN THE NBA!! WE NEED MORE PLAYERS WE KNOW AND LOVE KEEP PLAYING THE SPORT!
Your takes keep getting dumber and dumber
So you want what? A 232-team league with 24-man rosters? You want me to see if Kareem or Magic still want to play?
Silver doesn’t want veterans in the NBA
Terrific! Anton Watson looked solid in Summer League. Made his threes too. Celtics need a bunch of guys ready to step up as injuries happen and guys get old. We now have a good group getting ready to help when needed or a bit down the road. Anton Watson is one of them. Go Celtics!
Good move
Somehow lucked into this dude at the end of the draft…
Definitely huge to have Xavier Tillman behind Horford at the 5/4, and both should be super influences on Watson, who has a lot of similarities to Horford, based on his profile
Shot the ball way better than I expected out of the gate, based on the scouting reports
He’s not a bad shooter, that just wasn’t his role. Few would have yanked him fast if he was jacking a bunch of 3’s. He shot around 37 percent his last two years. More importantly, he can guard 1-5.
Didn’t get much scouting video done this year before summer league for several reasons, but the defense was what I was looking for, and it seemed as advertised. Maybe I’d have known the shooting was already there if I had seen that video, b/c there’s always some scouting reports that don’t line up with the actual skillsets
Given how onerous it now is to be above the second apron, finding diamonds-in-the-rough from the draft and other places is going to be critical for Boston in order to keep their window open for as long as possible.