Boston signed Dalano Banton to a two-year deal on Saturday, filling its final roster spot as the Celtics head into the playoffs with a full and healthy roster for the first time this season.
The 26-year-old guard is back with the team after signing a 10-day contract in February and appearing in three games, where he averaged 1.3 points and 0.7 assists. The move gives Boston one more player as it prepares for a postseason run that starts after Tuesday’s play-in game decides its first-round opponent.
It also closes a loop that began last season. Banton first signed with the Celtics during the 2023-24 season before being traded to Portland that February, then found a larger role with the Trail Blazers. He averaged 16.7 points over the final 30 games of that season, a stretch that helped put him back on Boston’s radar.
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The Celtics have spent much of the season piecing together the back end of the roster with a series of 10-day deals as they tried to stay below the luxury tax line. That no longer appears to be the immediate concern. Boston has clinched the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and the only thing left to learn before the first round is which team emerges from Tuesday’s play-in tournament game involving the teams that finish seventh and eighth in the standings.
Coach Joe Mazzulla made clear he wanted Banton rewarded for the path he has taken. He said he hoped Banton gets it and added that he deserves it, both for what he has done as a player and for what the opportunity means with the Celtics and across his NBA journey. Mazzulla said the team would not be in this position without him.
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Neemeias Queta, who has been tracking the same kind of individual recognition talk from within the locker room, said he thinks about it all the time. But he added that he has made a good case and that those awards are beyond his control. For him, the priority remains the same: helping Boston win. That is where the Celtics are now — with the roster complete, the standings settled, and a playoff path that will become clear only after Tuesday night.
