BOSTON \u2014 The Celtics have signed Dalano Banton to a standard contract, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype first reported.<\/p>\n
Banton becomes the team\u2019s 15th and final rostered player; since the trade deadline, the Celtics have signed former two-way players Amari Williams, Max Shulga, and Ron Harper Jr. to standard deals. Banton, who was on a Ten-Day contract earlier in the season, becomes the fourth post-deadline signing, allowing the Celtics to remain below the luxury tax but still fill out their roster.<\/p>\n
Banton, a 26-year-old, 6\u20198 guard, was drafted by the Toronto Raptors in 2021 and has since played for the Portland Trail Blazers, Celtics, and, very briefly, for the Los Angeles Clippers. Across 221 career games, Banton has averaged 6.7 points and 2.2 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game. He\u2019s a 6\u20198 guard who can score in a variety of ways, but has never been particularly efficient (for his career, Banton has shot 40.3% from the field and 30.4% from three-point range).<\/p>\n
Banton joined the Celtics for a West Coast road trip on a Ten-Day contract in late February, but did not sign a second Ten-Day contract with the team. Before that brief stint, he was on the Celtics for the first half of the 2023-2024 campaign, where he played alongside current Celtics Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Neemias Queta, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, and Jordan Walsh.<\/p>\n
Dalano Banton rejoins the Celtics after two years<\/p>\n
In February, Banton said he was excited to rejoin Joe Mazzulla and his former teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely feels good,\u201d he told CelticsBlog. \u201cI\u2019m grateful and excited for the opportunity. Spending from the start of the season to right about a couple weeks ago in the G, just knowing that the uphill battle, and just sticking to the grind every day \u2014 being here is great. A lot of familiar faces, and everyone\u2019s welcoming me back with open arms.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banton has had some very successful stretches since he was traded from the Celtics in February of 2024, just months before their title run. He averaged 16.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in Portland for the remainder of that 2023-2024, and subsequently averaged 8.3 points and 2.4 assists in a more limited role with the Blazers last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad to have him back,\u201d Mazzulla said. \u201cHe\u2019s worked hard when he was with us before, but just his ability to \u2014 extra ball handling \u2014 but really his ability defensively to impact the game. Whether it\u2019s on the ball, whether it\u2019s with his ball pressure, whether it\u2019s his defensive activity. I\u2019m excited to have him back and working with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banton said he kept in touch with the Celtics in the year and a half since he was traded, in particular with his player development coach, Tyler Lashbrook.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve definitely had a great relationship with a lot of people here,\u201d he said. \u201cBrad\u2019s been good to me ever since they signed me here a couple years ago. He always kept that relationship with them, always talking to my agent and stuff like that about me, keeping tabs on me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Payton Pritchard said it was great to have Banton back around.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a journey for him,\u201d Pritchard said. \u201cFor him to work his way back into the league and get an opportunity again, it\u2019s a testament to his work ethic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 The Celtics have signed Dalano Banton to a standard contract, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype first reported.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,21388,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-708246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-celtics-news","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116386677414249436","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}