The Boston Celtics are adding Kelan Martin and Malik Fitts to 10-day contracts as the team continues to evaluate buyout and 10-day options around the league to fill out the roster after the trade deadline left the team with 5 open roster spots at one point, according to Shams Charania.
The Boston Celtics are planning to sign forwards Malik Fitts and Kelan Martin to 10-day contracts, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Fitts spent time with Jazz this season; Martin played in 27 games for Pacers.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 22, 2022
As Charania noted, Malik Fitts (forward) 7 games with the Utah Jazz averaging 0.9 points and 1.4 rebounds. His last appearance came on January 7th, 2022 against the Toronto Raptors – a game in which he played 21 minutes, shot 2 for 8 from the field and had 6 points to go with 7 rebounds.
In 27 games, Kelan Martin (forward) is averaging 6.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.8 assists on 41/30/69% shooting splits. He was waived by the Pacers in January. Both of these signings are low-risk signings as the team takes fliers on young players. Fitts is 24 and Martin is 26.
The Celtics needed to fill roster spots quickly as the team is only allowed to be below 14 players on standard contracts for two weeks at a time. The deadline for that was 2/24, according to CelticsBlog’s Keith Smith:
A lot of people have asked about the Boston Celtics filling out their roster:
Boston has to sign at least two more players to standard contracts. Teams can only drop below 14 players on standard contracts for up to two weeks at a time. Boston will have to add two players by 2/24.— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 22, 2022
There are still a couple of interesting names on the free agent list, but some of the bigger names like Goran Dragic and Willie Cauley-Stein have already been taken. It’ll be interesting to see what the long-term solutions are for the Celtics beyond these 10-Days.
The Celtics resume the second half of the season against the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. EST.
