Celtics open up roster spot with latest move

The work has not stopped for the Brad Stevens and the Celtics.

Whether it's still looking at the trade market, seeing if the market has any potential buy-low diamonds in the rough, Stevens & Co. have yet to find themselves able to fully relax this summer. But Thursday afternoon did come with some breathing room for Boston, with guard JD Davison waived.

A second-round pick by the club in 2022, Davison's waive comes just a month after the club picked up his option for the 2025-26 season, and a few months after Davison was signed to a standard NBA contract towards the end of the 2024-25 regular season. The 23-year-old Davison was also coming off an MVP-winning season in the G League, having averaged 25.6 points, 7.8 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game in 30 games for Maine.

Prior to his cut from the C's, Davison had made 36 appearances for Boston over three seasons, including a career-high 16 games in 2024-25. As an NBA player, Davison knocked down 25 of his 65 field goal attempts (38.5 percent), — including nine of his 32 attempts from three-point range (28.1 percent) — and totaled 32 rebounds, 34 assists, and eight steals in 198 minutes. 

With Davison's contract being non-guaranteed and with Davison officially ineligible for another two-way contract with the Celtics, this was a move that saw the C's essentially use the path of least resistance both financially and roster impact-wise when it came to clearing a roster spot.

But this also went beyond freeing a spot.

By waiving Davison, the Celtics are officially under the second apron, which is a goal that's undoubtedly headlined the cost-cutting, 'retool' summer in Boston, and something that (believe it or not) was not accomplished by trading both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis out of town prior to the 2025 NBA Draft.

Being under the second apron obviously opens up more flexibility for the Celtics, from mid-level exception signings to the ability to trade future draft picks. Of course, another signing by the Celtics could put them right back in the second apron and force Stevens to go through this all over again, which is why there continues to be some talk of the Celtics trading someone like Anfernee Simons or Georges Niang ahead of the 2025-26 season.