9:54 pm: The signing is official, the Celtics announced (via Twitter).
3:01 pm: The Celtics will promote Ron Harper Jr. to their standard roster and sign him to a new two-year contract, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (Twitter link).
Boston had to make a roster move today to add a 14th man after Charles Bassey‘s second 10-day contract expired overnight on Friday. Teams are permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for up to 28 total days during a season, but the Celtics had already reached that limit.
Harper, who is currently on a two-way deal, has played 26 games for the Celtics this season after spending the previous three years with the Raptors and Pistons.
The 6’5″ forward is averaging 3.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per contest, with a majority of his games played coming in the second half of the season.
As Keith Smith of Spotrac notes (via Twitter), because Harper will be signing a multiyear contract instead of a rest-of-season deal, his cap hit will be equivalent to the prorated minimum for a three-year veteran instead of a two-year veteran. That means he’ll count against the cap and tax for $123,045 this season.
The Celtics, who have made a series of roster moves since the trade deadline with an eye toward remaining out of the tax, will remain about $38K below that threshold after signing Harper, meaning they’ll have enough flexibility to add a 15th man during the final days of the season without becoming a taxpayer.
Masterful how Brad Stevens has kept the payroll under the cap AND kept elite talent. He has so much flexibility over the next couple of seasons. Has to be executive of the year. Number 19 on the horizon.
The genius of guys like Presti, Stevens etc is that they’re able to fill out the roster with cost-controlled talent/role players via the draft, free-agency or the scrap heap – who will fit, mesh with the 2-3 max level ones.
Brad Stevens is the man. Put him in the rafters.
Knicks fan here to agree. This Rube Goldberg tax shuffle blows away my favorite Leon Rose shenanigan: signing Shake Milton to a contract $1 over the minimum to make him sign-and-trade eligible in the Bridges deal.
Wouldn’t be surprised if RHJ becomes a player now that he’s with a team that can develop young talent.
6’5″ with basketball in his blood. Maybe next year Ron Harper, Jr. will get his big chance that other teams have overlooked. Stevens on a roll.
Looks like Vucevic will be getting some regular season games in also. LETS GO CELTICS.
Loved RHJ at RU. I hope he continues on in the NBA for a long time. His brother is the star now but he was the heart and soul of the Scarlet Knights.
This is like saying Steve Kerr turned the Warriors into champions
Calm down everyone
Yep, we’re a bit excited watching power forward Jason Tatum leading the whole NBA in defensive rebounds since his return.
If a tweener PF is leading the NBA is rebounds then I give up. It’s easy to get rebounds when everyone is jacking up 3s
Another official selection from the Ron Harper collection