4:42pm: The deal is official, according to a press release issued by the Celtics.
3:44pm: The Celtics have reached an agreement on a four-year contract with second-round pick Jordan Walsh, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Walsh’s four-year deal will be worth $7.6MM, league sources tell Scotto.
Boston made a series of trades on draft nights, moving down multiple times and ultimately ending up with just one pick, at No. 38 overall. The club used that selection to nab Walsh, who declared for the 2023 draft as an early entrant following his freshman year at Arkansas.
In his first and only college season, the 6’7″ forward averaged 7.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 24.4 minutes per game (36 contests) with a shooting line of .433/.278/.712. Despite his modest college stats, Walsh intrigued NBA teams due to his athleticism and defensive versatility.
The NBA’s new second-round pick exception will allow the Celtics to sign Walsh to a four-year deal without requiring cap room or the mid-level exception to do so. Based on the terms reported by Scotto, it sounds like Walsh will receive the rookie minimum salary across all four seasons. As our minimum-salary chart shows, a rookie signing a four-year, minimum-salary contract in 2023/24 will be in line for a total of $7,639,302.
The second-round pick exception requires that the final year of the contract be a team option, but teams and players can negotiate the guarantee amounts on the earlier seasons. I’d expect Walsh to receive at least one or two fully guaranteed years on his first NBA deal.