Celtics Summer League standout John Tonje earns two-way contract with Trail Blazers

Former Boston Celtics guard John Tonje entered Summer League play with something to prove. He wanted to show the NBA world what he was capable of, and he achieved that over the course of 5 games with the Summer C’s.

Tonje, who played in 6 regular-season games for the Celtics last season, averaged 14.8 points per outing in Las Vegas and was a big reason why Boston posted a winning record (3-2) during that short span. He shot 51 percent from the field and 45 percent from 3-point range while putting up the fourth-most field goal attempts of any Summer Celtic. His solid play wasn’t enough to land him a spot with Boston, but other teams took notice, as the Portland Trail Blazers signed the 25-year-old to a two-way contract on Friday afternoon, per ESPN insider Shams Charania.

With players like Ron Harper Jr., Hugo Gonzalez, and Baylor Scheierman ahead of Tonje on the depth chart, it was never a guarantee that he’d return to Beantown for the 2026-27 season. Plus, for just the second time in the last five years, the Celtics drafted two players — rookies Chris Cenac Jr. and Dillon Mitchell — and didn’t part ways with either, further crowding the roster and leaving fewer openings for Tonje.

In Portland, the 2025 second-round pick will be able to compete with the Rip City Remix in the G League and maybe get an occasional shot at the pros if rest or injuries come to pass with Blazers guards such as Damian Lillard, Scoot Henderson, and Ja Morant.

As for the Celtics, they’ve yet to divvy out all of their two-way contracts, so they’ll have a few more roster decisions to make ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.

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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Celtics Summer League standout John Tonje earns two-way contract with Trail Blazers