The Celtics have re-signed Drew Peterson to a two-way contract, the team announced late Wednesday afternoon.
The rookie was tendered a qualifying offer last week after appearing in just three regular season games with averages of 3.7 points per contest, while making three of the five shots he attempted from beyond the arc for the Celtics -- as he was not eligible to play during Boston's title run.
Peterson, who went undrafted in 2023, averaged 16.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists for the Maine Celtics this past season, after joining the team in December. He previously spent some time with the Sioux Falls and played for the Miami Heat's Summer League roster, before landing with the Celtics mid-season and helping the franchise reach their first G League Finals.
The 6-foot-9 forward enjoyed a great career at the University of Southern California, to emerge as a sharpshooting all-around talent.
The Celtics have spent the first few days of free agency working on keeping much of the championship team intact. On Sunday they re-signed Luke Kornet for one more season and Neemias Queta to a multi-year contract.
Less than 24 hours later, the Celtics reportedly reached an agreement with Derrick White on a four-year, $125.9 million extension and also completed a five-year, $315 million super-max extension with Jayson Tatum -- which would be the richest contract in NBA history, before inking back up big man Xavier Tillman on a two-year, fully guaranteed deal Tuesday.
Boston has 13 of 15 standard roster spots filled with 2023-24 championship team signed with standard contracts for the upcoming season, plus their first-round pick Baylor Scheierman taking up another slot to make it 14 with one vacancy left. Oshae Brissett, who opted out of his player option last week (reportedly seeking a better salary and more playing time elsewhere), and Svi Mykhailiuk as the only two C's free agents remaining -- as either role player could still return to round out the main roster.
As far as two-way roster spots, Peterson has filled one of the three slots with second-round pick Anton Watson likely to be signed on a two-way deal and possibly JD Davidson, who may return for his third straight season to snag that last spot -- as Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has expressed.
"JD will be a free agent, but we very much (would) like to try to figure out a way to get him back in (some) capacity," Stevens said in his post-draft presser last week.
In the meantime, the Celtics are in pretty good shape to run it back and defend their newly won NBA title after just the first few days into the off-season.
Joel Pavón
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