The Celtics were quite busy during Thursday's NBA trade deadline, including moving on from Chris Boucher, Josh Minott and Xavier Tillman Jr., they also converted rookie Amari Williams' two-way contract into a standard one.
Following the trade of Boucher, which was the first move of the day for the Celtics, Brad Stevens wasted no time in converting Williams' two-way deal into a standard two-year, $2.7 million contract -- per league insider Marc Stein.
Williams, who just turned 24-years-old last week, was the 46th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Celtics and has appeared in 13 games for the main roster this season -- including two starts. He has also split time with the Maine Celtics, averaging 15.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.5 blocks per game in 21 G League appearances.
While the Celtics' flurry of moves, including trading Anfernee Simons to the Chicago Bulls for Nikola Vučević this past Tuesday, opened up three roster spots, the league requires to have 14 of the maximum 15 players signed to standard NBA contracts. With Williams' new deal, the C's currently have 12 players with the possibility of converting two-way players of Derrick Harper Jr, Max Shulga and or newly acquired John Tonje to standard contracts or look into the buyout market to fill the spots within the next two weeks.
In the meantime, the Celtics pulled off what seemed like the impossible eight months ago when they moved Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis over the summer. Then Stevens used a trade exception from the Porzingis deal to absorb Vučević's expiring $21.5 million salary in the Simons swap, before moving Boucher, Minott and Tillman's contract without taking any additional salary back -- saving a whopping $325 million in the process.
Due to being under the second and first apron and also under the luxury-tax threshold, the Celtics are allowed to sign a free agent who made the $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception or more in the buyout market, if they so choose to go that route.
Overall, it's safe to say the Celtics were big winners at the trade deadline that will not only effect this current 2025-26 campaign but also the next few seasons with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum (who could still return come playoff time) still very much so in the prime of their respective careers.
Joel Pavón
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