Getty A.J. Reeves #11 of the Providence Friars.
The Boston Celtics are continuing to trim their roster with opening night around the corner. According to Keith Smith of CelticsBlog, the Celtics are waiving A.J. Reeves, a Roxbury native, from the roster.
The Boston Celtics have waived AJ Reeves, a league source tells @celticsblog and @spotrac.
This comes a day after the Celtics had signed Reeves to an Exhibit-10 contract, as was reported by Adam Zagoria.
Former @PCFriarsmbb G AJ Reeves has signed an Exhibit-10 with the Boston Celtics, per league source
AJ Reeves played college basketball for the Providence Friars from 2018 to 2022, where he averaged 9.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, and two assists while shooting 36.9 percent from the field and 31 percent from three, according to Sports-Reference.
After Reeves went undrafted back in June, he went on to play for the Celtics’ 2022 Summer League team in Las Vegas. In the two games he played for the Celtics, Reeves averaged 4.5 points and 1.5 rebounds while shooting 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from three, according to NBA.com (Page Seven).
With Reeves cut from the roster, that trims it down to 19 players on the roster, which includes JD Davison and Mfiondu Kabengele, both of whom are signed on two-way contracts. Excluding those two, the Celtics have 17 players on their training camp roster. They will have to trim the roster down to 15 at the most, though they could potentially trim it down to 14.
Celtics TPE Target to Hit Waivers
An Eastern Conference executive told Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney that the Celtics looked into using one of their TPE’s on 29-year-old wing Moe Harkless among other players.
“I think two guys they looked at and could look at with their TPEs are Justise Winslow and Mo Harkless. I think both of those guys make sense if they’re not getting what they want off the bench for backup wings.”
The executive went on to say that Harkless would “be a good fit there” and that “he can do a little of everything and has fit in with all his teams.”
The Celtics won’t have to use any of their TPEs after all since The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported on October 11 that Harkless’ current team, the Houston Rockets, are waiving him.
The Houston Rockets are waiving forward Moe Harkless, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Harkless, 29, will enter free agency as a 10-year NBA vet.
In his 10-year NBA career, Harkless has averaged 6.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 0.9 steals a game while shooting 47.4 percent from the field and 32 percent from three.
Whether the Celtics waived Reeves after learning that Harkless had been waived by the Rockets remains to be seen, but since the executive confirmed that the Celtics had looked into acquiring Harkless earlier, the timing of this seems not coincidental.
Noah Vonleh Has ‘Inside Track’ to Roster Spot
Following his performance in the Celtics’ third preseason game, Noah Vonleh received praised from The Athletic’s Jared Weiss. So much so that Weiss believes that Vonleh has the inside track to make the Celtics’ opening night roster.
“(Vonleh) finally showed how his face-up game can be used in an offense that isn’t going to give him clear-outs in the high post. Vonleh had a few athletic finishes off the bounce and showed he can be aggressive to get to spots where he has leverage without turning the ball over.
“That gives him a distinct advantage over Mfiondu Kabengele in earning minutes at the five, especially given how Vonleh’s defensive intensity and positioning looked much better Friday. With Kabengele already on a two-way deal, Vonleh appears to have the inside track on the 14th roster spot.”
If Vonleh winds up making the Celtics’ opening night roster, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be on the team the whole season.