The Celtics have made a habit of turning two-way deals into standard contracts, and if they do it again this season, Dillon Mitchell looks like the cleaner bet than Amari Williams.
Boston has already shown the pattern. Neemias Queta got the move late in the 2023-24 championship run.
JD Davison followed a year later. Last season, Ron Harper Jr., Max Shulga, and Williams all got that bump at some point.
So the question isn’t really whether the Celtics might do it again. It’s who has the best path.
Mitchell does.
The former St. John’s captain brings the kind of size, burst, and feel that can make him a real weapon on the perimeter.
In college, he already showed he could be an elite defender on the outside. That gives him a foundation that matters in Boston, where defensive versatility always plays.
He also has a path on offense. Mitchell can cut, finish at the rim, and help create extra possessions. He took a real step forward as a passer in his final college season, and that could matter if the Celtics use him as a screener or short roller.
The biggest encouraging sign, though, is that he’s already working on the one issue that could have slowed him down. Boston’s staff has stressed that he needs to release the ball on the way up, and that adjustment showed up at Summer League.
DILLON MITCHELL 3 BALL WE LIVE
And add another stock pic.twitter.com/8P03R0gVW4
- NikNBA🏀 (@NIKNBAYT) July 12, 2026
That’s why Mitchell has real future rotation upside in Boston. If he keeps building, it wouldn’t be a shock if his first full-time roster spot comes this season. The Celtics’ effort to get under the repeater tax only helps his case, since it makes an outside addition less likely and raises the odds that one of their own two-way players gets converted.
Williams, meanwhile, has a tougher road because of the numbers in front of him. Boston already has three centers, plus first-round pick Chris Cenac Jr., who can play both the four and the five. Outside of Cenac, the group doesn’t really fit well together on the floor, including any look that pairs Williams with one of the Celtics’ current standard-contract bigs.
Boston did find a workable combination with Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet at times during the 2024-25 season, so it’s not impossible. Still, unless someone ahead of Williams gets hurt, the depth chart looks like a major obstacle for him.
And that’s the other thing about two-way conversions: they don’t always mean the same thing. Sometimes they’re a reward for growth.
Sometimes they’re temporary. Williams himself is an example of that, since he was back on a two-way deal with the Celtics after having a standard contract.
Ron Harper Jr. showed how quickly that can turn into something more, even in a crowded wing room. He got his deal converted and then landed a three-year, $9 million contract this summer. If Mitchell turns his promise into production, the Celtics could be looking at another similar story before long.
In Other News...
Celtics Final Roster Spot Creates A Tough Win-Now Or Youth Debate
The Celtics still have one open roster spot, and Bruce Brown is the kind of veteran name that naturally gets floated when a contender is looking to tighten the screws. A proven NBA champion with Denver, Brown would bring experience, versatility and the kind of steady play that fits a team trying to keep its window open. But Boston is also in a place where every move has to pass a tougher test than name value alone, especially with the payroll already carrying plenty of weight.
Browns production last season, along with the possibility that he wants a bigger role than Boston can promise, makes this more complicated than a simple depth addition. The real debate is whether the Celtics should use that final spot on another established hand or leave room for younger players who need minutes and a clearer path forward. In a year when the margins matter, the decision says as much about the teams long-term balance as it does about the next few months. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics May Have Found A Hugo Gonzalez Nobody Else Could
Hugo Gonzalez has already given the Celtics enough reason to believe they may have found something others missed. His rookie season in Boston showed real promise, and he carried that momentum into Summer League, where he looked like a leader for the group and hinted at a wider role ahead. For a team always looking to develop usable young pieces around its core, that kind of emergence matters.
The bigger question is why the fit seems so much cleaner in Boston than it has in other settings. Gonzalezs work with Spain at the FIBA Basketball World Cup drew criticism, and his numbers with Real Madrid were modest, which has only sharpened the debate about how his style translates away from the NBA. The Celtics, though, appear to have found a way to unlock parts of his game that others could not, leaving the rest of the league to wonder what exactly Boston sees in him. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics Ceiling After Jaylen Brown Trade Just Became A Real Debate
Even with the Jaylen Brown for Paul George swap hanging over the conversation, there is still a belief around the league that Boston can stay at the top of the East. Stephen Noh of The Sporting News went as far as projecting the Celtics as the conference's No. 1 seed for the 2026-27 season, pointing to a roster that remains loaded enough and a Joe Mazzulla system that has already shown it can work at a high level.
The catch is that Boston will not be navigating the East in a vacuum. Philadelphia, Cleveland, Miami, Toronto and Indiana all figure to be part of a tighter race, which makes the Celtics' margin for error feel thinner than it has in recent years. So while the talent and coaching still give Boston a sturdy case, the real question is whether that formula can hold up once the competition around them starts pushing harder. [Read more 🡒]