The Celtics extended Jordan Walsh to a three-year, $15 million contract extension on Thursday, according to Shams Charania. Michael Scotto later reported that the deal includes two guaranteed seasons, beginning in 2027-28, with a third-year team option for 2029-30. Walsh will play out the final year of his rookie contract, worth $2.4-million this upcoming season.
Walsh experienced a breakthrough year midway through his third in the NBA following his selection as the No. 38 overall pick in the 2023 draft at 19 out of Arkansas. Boston effectively stashed him in Maine in 2023-24, before he watched their NBA championship run, before he played sparingly in 2024-25. He similarly sat last fall ahead of his fourth-year team option deadline, and emerged in a defensive stopper role off the bench that transformed into a 20-game run as a starter when Joe Mazzulla moved away from Josh Minott. The Celtics won 15 of those games while Walsh averaged 7.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 60.4% from the field and 44.7% from three.
“Your career, you were dead in the water and now you’re back alive,” Walsh recalled Mazzulla telling him before the playoffs began in April. “I was like dang Joe, the year just started. It was a setup, mind game I guess, but then after that, I started and then had all those ups-and-downs, but I think it was all part of the process that’s gonna make me better for this upcoming season, postseason.”
The extension follows commitments earlier this summer to Ron Harper Jr. (4yrs, $13.7M) and Neemias Queta (4yrs, $56M). Payton Pritchard becomes eligible for a three-year, $68 million addition to his deal in October. Brad Stevens, speaking earlier this month following the Jaylen Brown trade, mentioned the organization’s desire to rely on depth and the flexibility they earned to sign these extensions as part of the optionality they earned by trading Brown. Walsh and Baylor Scheierman, who succeeded Walsh as a starter late last season, will fill in for Brown alongside Paul George, Sam Hauser and second-year wing Hugo González.
The Celtics also have Harper Jr. and rookies Chris Cenac and Dillon Mitchell available for depth minutes at the wing position, and could add two-way players like John Tonje to effectively make the team 10-deep at the position. While Walsh’s contract comes in at about as low as the Celtics reasonably could’ve hoped to retain him at next summer, when he would’ve entered restricted free agency, he doesn’t face a straightforward path to minutes. Walsh appeared in 40 of their Celtics’ final 48 games off the bench, averaging 16.6 minutes with 4.4 PPG, 3.6 RPG and 0.5 SPG, with his shooting regressing to 45.1% FG and 33.8% 3PT. He appeared in all seven postseason games for 12.7 MPG, posting 1.7 PPG, 2.6 RPG and 0.6 SPG.
Still, the Celtics continue to believe in having layers of defensive wings, a development system that saved Walsh’s career and the depth New York and Indiana utilized to reach the last two NBA Finals from the East. Walsh, for his part, realized his limitations while reflecting on the past year in Las Vegas earlier this month.
“The biggest thing is I’m trying to change my identity offensively. I’m trying to become a way better offensive player,” Walsh said. “I’m trying to fit into situations that I didn’t last year. I’m trying to be the answer to the situations that they took me out of. That’s my goal. It means being a threat in all points of the game. I felt like there were a lot of times in the season last year, it’d become clutch moments where we needed a bucket and I’d get subbed out … I said, when those moments come, I want to always be the best option, I want to always be the best choice. So for me, it’s working on my shot, working on my handle, working on creating my own shot when I have those pockets.”
