BOSTON — The Celtics signed Torrey Craig to a contract for the rest of the season, his agency Priority Sports announced. The Chicago Bulls waived Craig earlier this week.
Craig, 34 and eight seasons into his NBA career, joins Boston in place of Jaden Springer, who the Celtics traded to the Rockets on Wednesday in a salary dump before the trade deadline. Boston did not make a trade to replace him before 3 p.m. on Thursday in what Brad Stevens described as a boring as hell day. Stevens made up his mind on his target free agent when the Bulls let Craig go, and announced prior to Thursday’s game that the Celtics would move quickly to acquire a wing. Within two hours, Boston signed Craig.
It’s unclear when he’ll be able to play for the Celtics, as he appeared in only nine games for Chicago and hasn’t played since Dec. 30 with a leg injury. He performed well, averaging 6.9 points and 2.8 rebounds per game while shooting 48.9% from the field and 42.9% from three on 3.9 attempts per night. Craig averages 6.0 PPG and 4.0 RPG on 45.4% FG and 35.5% 3PT for his career.
The #Celtics signed Torrey Craig earlier tonight into their 14th roster spot. @RealBobManning reacts.
More to come on Post Game after C's-#Mavs: https://t.co/REJdlt09yS
⚡️ @Prizepicks @Gametime pic.twitter.com/UhbDIu7CpK— Celtics on CLNS (@CelticsCLNS) February 7, 2025
Craig went undrafted in 2014 after four years at the University of South Carolina Upstate. He played for three years in New Zealand and Australia before joining the Denver Nuggets on a two-way contract and quickly emerging into a spot starter emerging from the G-League Sioux Falls Skyforce. Craig averaged 5.3 PPG on 45.1% shooting between 2017-20 there, then signed with the Bucks that fall after the Bubble. Milwaukee traded him to the Suns for cash halfway through that season before he later met them in the NBA Finals, which the Bucks won, 4-2. He hopped to the Pacers, who traded him back to Phoenix, before he signed with Chicago in 2023.
In his second Phoenix stint, Craig started in 60 out of his 79 appearances while emerging as a 39.5% three-point shooter. Since then, he’s shot 39.7% over his last 441 attempts from deep. He’s not a sharpshooter, but can knock them down. More than half of his attempts over that stretch came wide open, with a 42.6% mark on open threes with Phoenix.
Craig has extensive playoff experience. He logged rotation minutes in the first five games of the 2021 Finals, scoring 17 points. He played in 75 postseason games across five seasons, averaging 4.7 PPG and 3.2 RPG in 16.3 MPG, shooting 45.7% from the field and 38% from three. He’s a 70.3% career free throw shooter (66% FT), though he only attempts 0.7 per game.
The last official injury update on Craig referenced a right ankle sprain on Jan. 13 that would be evaluated in two weeks. He also missed time with illness and achilles tendinopathy. He was active in 21 games where he received a DNP-CD. That’s another factor in Boston adding Craig, given that he’ll likely receive many of the same designations at full health in Boston.
“I think what ended up happening was he got hit on that nerve,” Billy Donovan said last month. “He was having a hard time getting his muscles to react because of where he was hit. As that started to come back, he started to have pain in his ankle after that, and they figured out going back through the video and looking at it, that it was an ankle sprain. So, they’re just treating that right now.”
