Celtics just signed Ron Harper Jr. to a long-term extension

The Celtics have signed Ron Harper Jr. to a three-year, $9 million contract, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Saturday afternoon. It’s a win for both sides: Harper Jr. gets his first long-term NBA contract at 26 years old, fresh off the best season of his career.

And the Celtics get a hard-playing role player with plenty of upside on a financially savvy deal, someone who can stretch the floor, defend, and rebound at a high level.

It’s been a long journey for Ron Harper Jr. to get here

Ron Harper Jr. went undrafted in 2022 after a standout career at Rutgers. Since then, he’s bounced around the league, spending some time with the Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons.

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Last year, he began the season with Boston on an Exhibit-1o, training camp contract, and ultimately secured one of the team’s three two-way contracts. Then, after excelling with the Maine Celtics, he began to spend more time with the parent club and ultimately signed a standard, rest-of-season contract with the Celtics in April.

But Harper’s tenure with Boston began before last year. He was on the Celtics Summer League team in 2024 and was on a training camp deal that fall. At that Summer League, he was coming off a season-ending shoulder injury but told reporters he was ready to play with toughness and grit.

“I’m a player that’s going to play hard, play the right way, play within himself,” he said then.

In turn, began the 2024-2025 season with the Maine Celtics, before signing a two-way contract with the Detroit Pistons. After that contract expired, he returned to Boston. This year, he’ll begin his third consecutive training camp in Boston – though for the very first time, he’ll have guaranteed money.

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The former Rutgers standout averaged 11 minutes in 29 NBA games last year, getting three starts. He scored a career-high 27 points to go along with 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals in a win over the Orlando Magic in mid-April. But his breakthrough moment came before that, when he started his first-ever NBA game in Houston, guarded Rockets forward Kevin Durant, and scored a then-career-high 11 points.

“I feel like I know the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/celtics-just-signed-ron-harper-174121797.html

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Publish date : 2026-06-27 17:41:00

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