There wasn’t much to be happy about coming out of Sunday’s Boston Celtics loss at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Boston spent the entire night in the freezer. They made just 35.8% of their attempts from the field -- their second-lowest mark of the season, as Minnesota coasted to their first win at TD Garden in over 20 years.
As the seconds trickled down in garbage time, however, history was made. Celtics rookie Max Shulga drove from the right corner and converted a layup through traffic for his first NBA points with 1:22 left to play.
Not only did he get in the scoring column for the first time, but he became the first player ever to score in both an NBA game and G-League game on the same day.
Shulga spent Sunday afternoon up at the Portland Expo, where he helped the Maine Celtics to a 30-point win over the Cleveland Charge. The Ukrainian guard posted 12 points, five rebounds, and four assists before making the near two-hour trip down I-95 to suit up for Boston at TD Garden.
The Sunday Night Basketball loss to the Timberwolves marked the 23-year-old’s sixth NBA appearance since being drafted 57th overall by Boston last June. Shulga previously spent three seasons at Utah State from 2020-23, where he played alongside Celtics center Neemias Queta, and then two years with VCU from 2023-25.
As a senior, Shulga was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year when he averaged 15.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in 35 starts for the Rams.
He’s carried that momentum forward with Maine, where he’s played the majority of his minutes as a pro, thus far. Shulga is currently averaging 15.5 points, 6.4 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game with the G-League Cs.
The Celtics recently signed Shulga to a standard contract
Boston converted Shulga’s two-way contract to a standard deal last week when they signed him through the end of this season and into next year. The move came as part of a larger scheme that will enable the Celtics to fully avoid the luxury tax this season and knock off one of the two years required to reset the repeater tax penalties.
They’ll marginally miss the tax threshold after a masterful set of maneuvers, which have included a series of 10-day signings like Dalano Banton, Charles Bassey, and two-way guard John Tonje.
The details of Shulga’s second season have yet to be made public, but typically NBA franchises will include a team-option for the following campaign when signing players towards the end of a season.