Celtics 2025 second-round pick Max Shulga signed a two-year standard contract on Saturday.
Celtics 2025 second-round pick Max Shulga signed a two-year standard contract on Saturday.Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
The Celtics are converting rookie Max Shulga’s two-way contract to a standard NBA deal and signing veteran big man Charles Bassey to a 10-day contract, a league source confirmed Saturday.
The moves are part of the team’s recent push to stay below the luxury tax threshold, a plan set in motion after it shed salary with a series of February trades. Those deals left Boston with just 12 roster players.
Teams can stay below the league minimum of 14 players for a maximum of 14 days. So, after letting 14 days pass following the trades, the Celtics signed Dalano Banton and John Tonje to 10-day deals. When those contracts expired, they let another 14 days pass before making the Shulga and Bassey moves.
The Celtics selected Shulga in the second round of last June’s draft. He has spent most of the season with the team’s G League affiliate in Maine. Two-way contract player Ron Harper Jr., who has received meaningful rotation minutes with the Celtics this year, would have been a more obvious choice from a basketball perspective. But as a fourth-year player he would have commanded a higher minimum salary that pushed Boston above the tax line.
Bassey, who had brief stints with the 76ers and Grizzlies this season, played for the Celtics’ Las Vegas Summer League team last July.
Kevin Dillon can be reached at kevin.dillon@globe.com. Follow him on X @ByKevinDillon.