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Going into the 2025-26 season, Ron Harper Jr.’s NBA career was seemingly stuck in mud. After going undrafted in 2021 out of Rutgers, he began his career with the Toronto Raptors for the first two seasons of his career where he played a total of 10 NBA games. He started last season with Boston in training camp but was waived and spent most of the season 2024-25 season with the Maine Celtics where he played a total of 14 games before signing a two-way contract with the Detroit Pistons.
Harper Jr. played the last 23 games of the G League regular season with the Motor City Cruise before getting the chance to play one game with Pistons on the last game of the season, but that would be his last game with Detroit. The Pistons would waive Harper Jr. on July 24th, 2025 after averaging 16.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.2 assists, and 39% shooting from 3-point range in the G League.
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He would reunite with Boston a month later on August 16th, 2025, signing an Exhibit-10 Deal to attend training camp. This is where the story of Ron Harper Jr.’s incredible 2026 season begins. Through grinding in Maine to slowly creeping his way up the Celtics depth chart to finally ending his season starting in the biggest game of his career, you couldn’t write a better redemption story if you were trying to pitch it to Disney.
Preseason and Maine Celtics
Preseason was an import time for Ron Harper Jr. because was fighting for a two-way contract against a lot of stiff competition. He played well in the three games, averaging 4.3 points in 10.6 minutes per game while shooting 40% from the field and 42.9% from three-point range. He was awarded the final roster spot on the Celtics, signing a two-way contract on October 16th, 2025.
He made it a point to comment on his familiarity with the Celtics system that helped him feel more comfortable this time around. He said, “Being here last year, I feel like it helped me gain a grasp of the system a little better, a little faster…so, I feel like I was a step ahead in that aspect.”
Harper Jr. spent most of the first half tearing up the G League, averaging 26.9 points on 49.7% shooting…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/celticsblog-exit-interview-ron-harper-094700610.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-29 09:47:00
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