According to Shams Charania of ESPN, the Boston Celtics have signed Torrey Craig to a contract. The Celtics traded Jaden Springer to the Houston Rockets at the deadline, leaving them with 13 active players on the roster. The NBA minimum is 14, so they had to sign someone to get in compliance, and Craig is now that player.
Ahead of their game against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, Brad Stevens said that the Celtics planned on signing a wing, and Craig fits that mold, too. He was waived by the Chicago Bulls after their trade-deadline deal that sent Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings.
Now, Craig is the newest member of the Celtics.
Celtics sign Torrey Craig to contract
For the past few years, Craig has been mentioned as a name the Celtics could potentially look to target on the trade market. Craig has spent the past couple of seasons with the Bulls after signing with them during the 2023 offseason.
Free agent forward Torrey Craig has agreed to a deal with the Boston Celtics, Mark Bartelstein of @PrioritySports told ESPN. Craig averaged 6.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in nine games for the Bulls this season. pic.twitter.com/vyLktPKLqH
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 7, 2025
Craig has been a very reliable three-point shooter for the past few years. In his 62 total appearances with the Bulls in the last two years, Craig has shot 39.9% from deep on 3.0 attempts per game. And the year before that, his last with the Phoenix Suns, Craig played in 79 games, shooting 39.5% from distance on 3.2 three-point attempts per contest.
As noted, the Bulls waived Craig as a part of the LaVine deal. They got back Tre Jones, Zach Collins, and Kevin Huerter in the deal, which meant they had to waive a couple of players to bring guys in. Those two players were Craig and Chris Duarte.
For the Celtics, Craig, who is 34 years old, will bring them a veteran presence. That's something they could use at the wing/forward position.
Prior to signing Craig, the Celtics' wing spot behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown consisted of Sam Hauser and a bunch of unproven guys. And Hauser is more of a forward than a wing.
Outside of Hauser, the Celtics had Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman, and Drew Peterson off the pine at that position. Walsh has played in spots this year but he's still a pretty raw talent. Scheierman has almost exclusively played in the G League. Peterson has earned a few opportunities, but he's not ready to play at the NBA level.
Craig probably won't see much run in the playoffs, but for the time being, he can soak up some regular-season minutes for Boston, and that's a good thing.