Gonzaga’s man signs two-way contract with NBA Franchise

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

This deal means Watson will likely spend most of his first professional basketball season with the Maine Celtics, Boston’s G League affiliate in Portland, Maine. Players on two-way contracts can 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 guard JD Davidson, a former second-round pick out of Alabama, 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 stood out on the Celtics’ summer league roster in Vegas, averaging 11.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 24.4 minutes per game over five games. He shot 51.1% from the field and 85.7% from the free-throw line (albeit on 1.4 attempts per game), the latter of which would’ve been a career-best at Gonzaga. The 6-foot-8 forward also made 35% of his three-point attempts on 4.0 attempts per game.

While Watson is expected to make 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.

Watson is no stranger to winning. Over five seasons at Gonzaga, he became 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.

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