Boston Celtics Announce Signing as Part of Brilliant Cap Management Plan

The Celtics are essentially driving around with their gas light on, but their plan will help them coast into a gas station just as the tank hits empty.

Sep 29, 2025; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens talks to reporters during media day at the Auerbach Center. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

While the Boston Celtics are putting together an incredible season on the court, their front office is putting on a master class of cap management. 

The 10-day contracts for both Dalano Banton and John Tonje expired on Saturday. On Sunday, the Celtics announced they have signed Tonje to a two-way contract again, while letting Banton go. It’s all part of an expected dance where the Celtics will go from a projected $282 million tax bill to zero. 

It involves taking advantage of obscure rules with their final three roster spots to fill them, unfill them, and then fill them again to slide in just under the tax like Indiana Jones sliding under a door and reaching back to grab his hat. 

Basically, they're driving with the gas light on, hoping to run out of fuel just as the car coasts up to a gas station. 

The following was laid out expertly by cap guru Yossi Gozlan. I’m going to attempt to translate. 

The Celtics get 28 days to fill two of their three roster spots. However, you get no more than 14 days in a row under the minimum 14-players. 

By giving a 10-day deal to Tonje, a rookie with no prior experience, they got to pay him less than a normal veteran. Now that is 10-day has expired, he can go back to his two-way deal. Banton is now gone, and the Celtics will carry 12 guys on their roster for 14 more days. 

Tonje, for his trouble, was given thousands of dollars more than usual as a bonus for playing the game. 

In two weeks, the Celtics will announce two more signings, one of them almost certainly being Max Shulga, because he is in the same situation Tonje was. He’ll be cheap enough to sign at a reduced rate.

BUT… 

There are more than 10 days left in the season. No worries, though, because the Celtics will sign him to a similar deal to Amari Williams, at the rookie minimum. Their other spot can go to anyone, maybe even Banton as a reward for playing the game. 

That will not only give the Celtics the exact amount of room they need, it will allow them to fill the final roster spot on the last day of the season. My guess is that it will be Ron Harper Jr., both as a reward for his season and to make him eligible for the postseason. The Celtics are using him in actual rotation minutes some nights, so Joe Mazzulla will likely want someone he can trust at the end of the bench. 

Gozlan estimates the Celtics will get under the tax by about $8,000 or so, which is important because that will make Boston eligible for a tax payout this year. So on top of saving $280 million in payments, the Celtics will get a lump sum from the league’s taxpayers at the end of the year.