Celtics could lose Dillon Mitchell next season with latest loophole rule

Boston Celtics second-round pick Dillon Mitchell captivated fans with his performance in three appearances for the summer Cs last month in Las Vegas. His game came as advertised. Mitchell’s defensive abilities, high-IQ, and unreal athleticism were all on display on the UNLV campus, while he showed flashes of a reliable jumpshot -- a skill that eluded him in college.

The 22-year-old averaged 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.7 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game on an efficient 47.2% from the field and 37.5% from beyond the arc at Summer League.

Now, less than a month later, he could decide to return to college for one final season with St. John’s.

Apparently, the NCAA recently passed a blanket rule that grants every student athlete eligibility in the five years following their high school graduation. The idea was to prevent full-blown adults from returning to college sports deep into their 20s.

Now, it’s five years. Nothing beyond.

Since Mitchell, a 2022 high school grad, technically fits into that window, he’s still eligible to return to play college hoops if he so chooses.

According to Adam Zagoria, a college basketball writer for The New York Times and Forbes, a reunion between Mitchell and St. John’s is being considered.

If the Celtics retain Mitchell's draft rights, then there's no need to sweat

Now, whether that means Mitchell’s side is the one thinking of a return to college, or that the program would have him back isn’t all that clear. But, with the way second-round picks are compensated in the NBA, it wouldn’t be shocking if he wanted to go back to school and cash in on a bigger NIL payday.

For example, if Boston offered Mitchell a two-way contract, he’d make roughly $600k as a rookie. He could make probably six times that at St. John’s. The Celtics technically could negotiate a more expensive deal and sign Mitchell to their final roster spot, but with their limited space below the luxury tax, it wouldn’t be in their best interest to spend more than $1.7 million on him this season.

Fortunately for the Celtics, all signs point to them retaining Mitchell’s draft rights regardless if he returns to the Johnnies for a fifth season. The situation would play out the same way it does when teams “draft and stash” players overseas, who were playing professionally in Europe or somewhere else prior to entering the draft.

There likely won’t be any rotational minutes available to the 40th overall pick this season anyway, so it’s not like he’d be missing opportunities in the NBA. The drawback, however, is that Mitchell wouldn’t be able to spend time learning Boston’s system, or working with the team’s player development staff.

If he were able to re-enter the draft completely this would be a completely different story. It'd be a disaster to lose a promising prospect after spending a pick on him.

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