{"id":85727,"date":"2025-08-15T21:52:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T21:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/85727\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T21:52:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T21:52:05","slug":"celtics-sign-former-college-defensive-star-to-two-way-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/85727\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Sign Former College Defensive Star To Two-Way Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Boston Celtics officially added to their frontcourt on Friday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/players\/transactions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">signing<\/a> rookie second-round draft pick Amari Williams to a two-way contract.<\/p>\n<p>The 23-year-old big man <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2025\/06\/amari-williams-two-word-message-drafted-celtics\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">was acquired<\/a> in a draft night trade with the Orlando Magic, along with the 57th overall pick (Max Shulga) and two future second-round picks, in exchange for the 32nd overall pick (Noah Penda).<\/p>\n<p>Williams brings much needed size to the roster, as he\u2019s listed at 6-foot-10.<\/p>\n<p>Boston said goodbye to three centers this offseason, <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2025\/06\/celtics-reportedly-send-kristaps-porzingis-to-hawks-in-three-team-trade\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">trading<\/a> Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks and seeing Luke Kornet sign with the San Antonio Spurs, while free agent Al Horford is <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2025\/08\/report-retirement-remains-on-the-table-for-al-horford\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">almost certainly<\/a> out of the picture.<\/p>\n<p>Williams played four seasons for Drexel University before transferring to the University of Kentucky for the 2024-25 campaign. Williams adds strong rim protection to the Celtics, as he was a three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year with the Dragons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"nesn-in-content-ad__copy\">Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The native of the United Kingdom averaged 10.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 22.8 minutes across 36 games during his lone season with the Wildcats while shooting 56.1% from the floor.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Williams averaged 6.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 17.6 minutes per contest during his four games with the Celtics Summer League team as well.<\/p>\n<p>Boston\u2019s 2025-26 roster is beginning to take shape, with Friday\u2019s signing leaves just one spot open on the 15-man roster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"nesn-in-content-ad__copy\">Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Williams joins Shulga and RJ Luis Jr. as the two-way players for the Celtics next season. Luis Jr. was acquired in <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2025\/08\/report-celtics-trade-georges-niang-to-jazz-for-undrafted-rookie\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a trade<\/a> in early August that sent Georges Niang to the Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Boston Celtics officially added to their frontcourt on Friday, signing rookie second-round draft pick Amari Williams to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[5788,385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-85727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-amari-williams","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}