Pistons to sign Maine Celtics forward to two-way deal (report)

The Pistons have plucked some depth away from the Maine Celtics, agreeing to a two-way deal with Rob Harper Jr. according to a report from ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.

Harper Jr. played for the Celtics in the Summer League and signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the team before being waived at the end of training camp. He earned a bonus after suiting up for the Maine Celtics where he had been a standout in recent weeks. Harper Jr. played the entirely of the G-League Showcase Cup with Maine and had put together a terrific stretch in recent days up North.

Over the past four regular season games, he was averaging 22 points per game off the bench while shooting 42.5 percent from 3-point range, playing alongside JD Davison, Baylor Scheierman, Drew Peterson and Anton Watson in Maine.

The 24-year-old wing went undrafted out of Rutgers in 2022 but played the first two years of his career with the Raptors. He was waived by Toronto after suffering a season-ending injury last December before catching on with the Celtics this summer when he was recovered.

The 6-foot-4 wing still has two years left of two-way eligibility, making him an appealing prospect to Detroit likely after they lost a key guard in Jaden Ivey last week to a season-ending knee injury. The Pistons will need to release one of their two-way players in order to make room to sign Harper Jr. officially.

The Celtics filled all of their own three two-way spots with Davison, Peterson and Watson, so the team had no way of retaining Harper Jr. without offering him a spot on the 15-man roster.

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