Gonzaga’s Anton Watson signs two-way contract with Boston Celtics

Watson will spend most of his rookie season with Boston’s G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, after inking a two-way deal with the defending NBA champions

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Over six weeks after he was selected 54th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft, former Gonzaga men’s basketball forward Anton Watson has signed a two-way contract with the Boston Celtics.

The deal likely means that Watson, who wrapped up his first Summer League experience in Las Vegas earlier this month, will spend most of his first professional basketball season with the defending champion’s G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, located in Portland, Maine. Players under two-way contracts are permitted to be active for up to 50 games with their NBA team and are paid a single salary for their time in both leagues. Teams can have up to three players on two-way deals.

In addition to Watson, Boston also signed the team’s former second-round pick out of Alabama, guard JD Davidson, and former USC forward Drew Peterson to two-way contracts. Both spent much of the 2023-24 season with the Maine Celtics, who finished runner-up to the Oklahoma City Blue in the G League finals. 

Watson was a standout from the Celtics’ summer league roster in Vegas, as the Spokane native put up 11.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 24.4 minutes per action across five games. He shot 51.1% from the field and 85.7% from the charity stripe (albeit on 1.4 attempts per game), the latter of which would’ve been a career-best at Gonzaga. The 6-foot-8 forward hunted for his outside shot too — Watson made 35% of his looks from deep on 4.0 attempts per game.

While it’s expected Watson makes an appearance with the main roster at some point in his rookie season, he’ll likely get more playing time in the G League given that most of last season’s championship squad is back in Boston for another title run. After finishing 80-21 between the regular season and playoffs, the Celtics hold the No. 1 spot in the latest offseason power rankings from NBA.com. A total of 15 players who logged significant minutes from the rotation marks the highest retention rate for a defending champion in the last 10 years. 

Of course, Watson knows all about winning from his time in the Inland Northwest. Over the course of five seasons at Gonzaga, Watson finished as the third-winningest player in program history (132-19, .874 winning percentage) and the only player to accumulate over 1,400 points, 700 rebounds, 200 assists and 215 steals in a career. Prior to his college career, he won back-to-back Washington state titles at Gonzaga Prep.