The Celtics are reportedly adding a former Massachusetts high-school standout to their roster. 

Boston signed 6-foot-9 forward Hason Ward to an Exhibit 10 contract, according to his agency. Ward hails from St. Thomas, Barbados, but attended high school at Springfield Central — where he put himself on the radar of Division I programs due to his size and shot-blocking capabilities. 

Ward was a force during his high school career, blocking 22 shots in one game as a junior with the Golden Eagles. He averaged 10.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks during his senior year at Springfield Central before moving on to the collegiate ranks. 

The athletic big man spent five total seasons in college, logging his first three years at Virginia Commonwealth University before transferring to Iowa State for two years. Ward came off the bench last year for a Cyclones team that advanced all the way to the Sweet 16. 

Ward appeared in 28 games (three starts) with Iowa State last season, averaging 6.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game. 

He previously signed with the Sacramento Kings for the 2024 Summer League after wrapping up his collegiate career. 

With Boston needing to trim down their roster by Monday, Ward has a slim chance of opening the season in the NBA ranks. But signing Ward to an Exhibit 10 contract allows the Celtics to keep Ward within the organization — as Boston will retain his G League rights if the team waives him in the next few days. 

After establishing himself as a basketball talent in Western Massachusetts, Ward is now expected to continue to develop in the New England area — be it in Boston or with the Maine Celtics in Portland. 

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Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.

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BOSTON – It’s election season and people are getting barraged with political text messages. WBZ-TV addressed this issue in May, but a successful business owner from Massachusetts came up with a solution he thinks could solve the problem permanently.

How can you stop political text messages?

During WBZ-TV’s original story, a teenager who is too young to vote was getting harassed by political robotexts.

“They want me to vote. They want me to send money. It’s a lot. They ask me for a lot,” 15-year-old Madison Medina said at the time.

Cyber security expert Peter Tran said people should simply reply “stop” to unsubscribe, then delete and report as junk. 

Even the experts admitted that would slow down, but not stop the avalanche of political texts.

Who is Paul English?

The story prompted many messages from viewers. One of them was from Paul English.

English grew up in West Roxbury, went to UMass and later founded travel behemoth Kayak.com, which was later sold for almost $2 billion in 2012.

“We made a lot of people happy on the day we sold,” English said. “I’ve given away half my Kayak money so far and I’m involved in a lot of non-profits.”

English is still developing apps, including one he believes can solve the problem of political robotexts. His newest creation began when he was at dinner with a friend, Vinayah Ranade.

“My friend gets a political text. He looks at it and says, ‘[Expletive] another political text. We need to do something about this,’” English said.

How does SpamStrike app work?

So English and Ranade co-created “SpamStrike,” an app that claims to block all political texts.

The app keeps a list of keywords that usually pop up, things like candidate names, words like donate, vote and poll. And you can add to the list.

It then uses artificial intelligence to study all of the flagged messages to learn what other words are red flags. In the month the app has been online, it claims to have blocked almost 150,000 texts.

The app only blocks political talk from people not in your contacts. So what happens if there’s a mistake?

“If you go into your messages app there’s a junk folder and you will see SpamStrike listed. Anything we’ve filtered is there. So if you don’t trust it, and you want to see what we’re doing, we don’t delete it. It just goes to your junk folder,” English said.

English said he does not want to make money off the app.

“Right now the idea is end the spam immediately. We are just doing it free, almost think of it as a giveback to the community,” English said.

There are other apps that also block texts. Some cost up to $100 per year.

If you have a question you’d like us to look into, please email questioneverything@cbsboston.com.