Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has done a successful tightrope act around the NBA luxury tax all season long.

Boston’s latest move on that front came with a focus on Ron Harper Jr., and with a reward for the good soldier on the bench, with Harper Jr. signed to a standard two-year NBA contract. The new deal, which will keep Boston under the tax given its timing in the NBA season, will make Harper Jr. eligible to play in the NBA playoffs.

In action for a career-high 26 games with the Celtics this season, Harper Jr. has averaged 3.4 points and 1.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 39.8 percent.

And though his year in Boston has mostly been light fill-in work, the 25-year-old Harper Jr. wowed in a Mar. 10 loss in San Antonio, with 22 points in 8-for-11 shooting (6-for-9 from three-point range) in over 33 minutes of play. 

When not in Boston, Harper Jr. has been a stud for G-League Maine, with
24.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game for the club. Harper Jr. is also the third separate player to go from two-way deal to standard NBA contract with the Celtics this season, along with Amari Williams and Max Shulga.

The Celtics have another five games left in their regular season, and appear to be locked into the No. 2 seed in the East barring a late-season collapse colliding with a late-season run from the third-place Knicks.