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The Boston Celtics have been expected to add Denzel Valentine to their training camp roster for a couple of weeks at this point, but it wasn’t until Monday, August 22 that the addition was officially confirmed.
Boston is adding Valentine on an Exhibit 10 contract that will last until the end of training camp. The confirmation came courtesy of The Athletic’s Shams Charania, who reported the addition at the end of his latest column.
“The Celtics and free agent guard/forward Denzel Valentine have agreed to an Exhibit 10 training camp deal, sources said. Valentine will compete for one of the Celtics’ open roster spots in training camp,” Charania wrote.
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Valentine was originally drafted by the Chicago Bulls with the 14th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft and went on to play a total of 232 games for them – with 45 of them coming as a starter. During his time with the Bulls, Valentine averaged 7.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and two assists per game while shooting 44.4% from the two-point range and 35.7% from deep.
However, since leaving the Bulls, Valentine has struggled to hold down a roster spot in the league, and has since found himself on the free agency market – so he will be entering Boston’s training camp with high hopes of making a big impression.
Noah Vonleh Predicted to Earn Roster Spot
Outside of Valentine, Noah Vonleh is another former lottery pick looking to earn his second chance at an NBA career following a successful spell in the Chinese Basketball League.
According to a recent article by Celtics Insider Brian Robb, Vonleh is among the front-runners to earn himself a full-time deal with Boston – should he impress in training camp.
“With the team deep in the luxury tax, I bet they keep the 15th roster spot open to begin the year for flexibility with trades and to save some cash down the line…I’d bet on Vonleh and Jackson out of that group but it’s a toss-up and is also going to be about how they fit in the system during camp and how they perform,” Robb wrote in his August 19 mailbag article.
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Of course, Vonleh and Valentine are vying for different positions on the roster and will be unlikely to have an impact on each other’s chances of success, but with Bruno Caboclo and Justin Jackson also on Exhibit 10 contracts, Valentine’s path to a full contract doesn’t project to be easy.
Celtics Essentially Holding Open Tryouts
Noah Vonleh, Mfiondu Kabengele (two-way contract), Justin Jackson, Bruno Caboclo, and now Denzel Valentine – Brad Stevens is doubling down on trying to find a diamond in the rough, that still has potential upside moving forwards.
However, we’ve known this for a while, as on August 3, The Atheltic’s Jay King reported that Boston planned to hold tryouts for some of their open roster spots and that Stevens was focused on young veterans that are looking for a way back into the NBA.
The Celtics are preparing to hold a training camp competition for their final roster spots, I was told.
More details here:
“As of Tuesday, the Celtics mostly were expected to fill out the rest of the training camp roster with young veterans willing to vie for those spots. Recent additions Noah Vonleh and Bruno Caboclo will be in that group, while last year’s two-way player Brodric Thomas and former Kings draft pick Justin Jackson are viewed as strong candidates to join them, league sources told The Athletic,” King reported in his August 3 article.