On the heels of their 60th win of the season, the Boston Celtics have filled one last roster spot ahead of the NBA playoffs.
The maximum amount of players on an NBA playoff roster is 15, and the Celtics made the move to add this young guard into the fold as the team chases back-to-back NBA titles.
After impressing on the Maine Celtics all season and winning the G League MVP award, the decision came easy for Joe Mazzulla to bring JD Davison on board for the Banner 19 quest.
Celtics Fill Final Playoff Roster Spot with JD Davison
The Celtics guard took the G League by storm this season, averaging north of 25 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds per game. While averaging the same amount of minutes as last season, Davison managed to improve in all facets of the game in his age-22 season.
The Boston Celtics are converting guard JD Davison, the G League MVP, to a standard, two-year NBA contract, agent Corey Marcum tells ESPN. Davison, who has played 34 career NBA games, averaged 25.1 points, 7.6 assists and 5.6 rebounds for G League Maine this season. pic.twitter.com/7qcmGWVoEG
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 12, 2025
The Alabama product saw a five-point jump on better efficiency from last year, still rebounding and assisting at a high clip as well.
Although being undersized for a point guard in the modern NBA at 6-foot-1, Davison was a second-round pick by the Celtics in the 2022 NBA Draft. Coming into the league as a 19-year-old, Celtics fans knew it would take a few years for Davison to find his stride, but the potential has always been there.
As the future of Jrue Holiday in Boston is under scrutiny heading into the playoffs, Davison could carve out a role in the Celtics rotation sooner rather than later. Payton Pritchard has proved that he can handle the starting point guard role in the absence of Holiday, as he is well on his way to the Sixth Man of the Year Award.
While Davison was the best player in the G League this season, that doesn't mean he has found the same success when put into NBA action.
In 15 games played this year, he is averaging 1.6 points on a horrid 34.8% from the field and 20% from three. Not to mention, Davison averages more turnovers (0.7) than assists (0.6) with the Celtics.
If Davison wants to earn the trust of coach Mazzulla going forward, he will have to improve his shooting efficiency, while turning the ball over less.
Regardless, being on the Celtics playoff roster, even on the end of the bench, will allow Davison to learn behind guards Holiday, White, and Pritchard. Being on a team that's considered the class of the NBA provides young players with a lesson on how to win when it matters.
Getting a front-row seat to watch how the Celtics guards wear teams down throughout the playoffs will be good for Davison's progress moving forward.
Jrue Holiday is under contract until the 2028-29 season and will earn more than $32 million in each of those seasons. Knowing the contracts the Celtics have on the books with their stars, Holiday seems like the most expendable of the bunch moving forward.
With that said, they would need to see improvement from Davison heading into next season to even consider moving off of Holiday.
For now, the Celtics playoff roster is set, as they will play either the Hawks or Magic in the first round after their final regular season game on Sunday against the Hornets.