LAS VEGAS — Celtics first-round draft pick Chris Cenac Jr. has shown promise in his first NBA Summer League.
His former college teammate hasn’t looked too bad, either.
Milos Uzan, an undrafted rookie point guard who played with Cenac at Houston, has logged the most minutes of any Celtic through four games in Vegas, and he was a key contributor in each of Boston’s three Summer League victories.
In the opener against Toronto, which the Celtics won in overtime, Uzan was a team-best plus-17, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out five assists with no turnovers. Two days later, he scored 13 points, hit three 3-pointers, led the team with six assists and was a plus-24 — again the best mark in the squad — in a win over Charlotte.
After an ugly loss to Atlanta on Monday, Summer League head coach Amile Jefferson moved Uzan into the starting lineup for the first time. He scored five of his 13 points in the final 97 seconds Wednesday night, converting contested layups on back-to-back late-game possessions to deny a Sacramento Kings comeback and help seal an 86-78 win.
“(I’m trying to show) that I can guard, I can run a team and I can make open shots,” Uzan said after Wednesday’s game. “And when it’s time to make a big play down the stretch, I can do that, as well.”
Entering the Celtics’ Summer League finale on Saturday, Uzan ranks second on the team in assists per game (4.3) behind Hugo Gonzalez and fourth in rebounds per game (5.0) behind Amari Williams, Gonzalez and Cenac. He’s turned the ball over just five times in 114 minutes.
The 22-year-old hasn’t shot the ball well (32.4% from the field; 33.3% from three) and hasn’t offered much in the way of defensive playmaking (zero steals or blocks). But he’s looked like a competent and confident floor general — and a candidate to land one of Boston’s two available two-way contract slots.
Uzan currently is playing on an Exhibit-10 tryout deal that runs through the NBA preseason, meaning he’ll join the full Celtics team for training camp when it convenes in late September. Last year, wing Ron Harper Jr. entered camp on an E-10 and parlayed it into a two-way (and, eventually, a three-year extension).
“It’s a great opportunity,” Uzan said. “I feel like I’m a pretty good point guard, and I feel like that’s what they needed, especially on the Summer League team, as well. So I feel like I’ve got a good shot and a good opportunity here, and I’m just trying to make the most of it.”
Before joining the Celtics, the 6-foot-3 Uzan was a four-year collegiate starter, spending his first two seasons at Oklahoma and his final two at Houston. He started every game for the 2024-25 Cougars squad that lost to Florida in the national championship, averaging 11.4 points and 4.3 assists.
Uzan posted similar averages as a senior last season, but his efficiency dipped. His field-goal percentage fell from 45.3% to 38.0%. His 3-point success rate dropped from 42.8% to 34.3%. Though his facilitation and ball security remained strengths — he posted an assist-to-turnover ratio above 3.0 for the second straight year, per Draftballr, ranking in the 94th percentile in that metric — he didn’t generate much buzz as an NBA prospect.
ESPN had Uzan ranked as the 57th-best player in his draft class. The Athletic’s big board put him at No. 66. All 30 teams passed.
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson attributed Uzan’s unspectacular final season to the arrival of star freshman guard Kingston Flemings, who went on to be drafted eighth overall by Atlanta. But Sampson believes Uzan — like Cenac, whom Boston selected with pick No. 27 — can benefit from the Celtics’ strong track record of player development.
“With Kingston coming in this year, I think it neutralized a lot of Milos’ strengths,” Sampson told the Herald before Summer League began. “But he’s in the same boat as Chris. He’s in an organization where I think he can thrive. I remember (coaching against Payton) Pritchard when he was at Oregon, and I loved him, but he went to the right organization, too.
“I think Milos can make the team. I think he’s an NBA player. He’s a winner. He’s a winning player. He’s not flashy, but he’s highly efficient.”
Adding a young ball-handler to their development pipeline would make sense for the Celtics, considering the only three true guards on their roster are Pritchard, 32-year-old Derrick White and soon-to-be 39-year-old Mike Conley. Uzan could fill the spot previously occupied by 2025 second-round pick Max Shulga, who played sparingly as a rookie and was not retained this offseason.
Boston’s plan for its final two-way slots — cheaper contracts that allow players to split time between the NBA and the G League — will depend on how it proceeds with this year’s second-round pick, wing Dillon Mitchell.
It’s not yet clear whether the Celtics intend to sign Mitchell to a two-way or plug him into the 15-man roster spot they opened by releasing veteran Dalano Banton last week. They’ve kept their final roster spot vacant in recent years, but they have the room to sign Mitchell without exceeding the luxury tax threshold if they so choose.
The Celtics said they considered trading up for the hyper-athletic St. John’s product, and he’s flashed his potential in Summer League, particularly during his 24-point, eight-rebound, six-steal, two-block tour de force against the Hornets.
Rostering Mitchell would allow Boston to keep two additional two-way players (along with center Williams, who signed a new two-way earlier this month). Uzan and second-year guard John Tonje have made the strongest cases for those spots so far this summer.
“My main thought process right now is just to go out in Summer League and compete and see where it goes from there,” Uzan said. “I know I’m going to be at training camp, so just trying to keep getting better and just try to add value to the team.”
Summer finale set
The Celtics’ 3-1 Summer League record wasn’t enough to qualify them for the tournament semifinals. They’ll close out their Las Vegas campaign with a consolation game against the Orlando Magic on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET; Prime Video).