It seems to me that the fair and reasonable thing is to let him return to college and take NIL money if he doesn?t want to take a two-way contract. But in that case, let the Celtics keep his draft rights. No re-entering the draft. Lawyers are involved so it won?t be that simple. Of course. But to an engineer, this seems like a simple solution.
That is an option if he and the Celtics agree to it. But it is in the CBA that he can re-enter the draft, and the NBA does not want to re-open the CBA for this one-off issue affecting five second round picks. The simple solution would be for the Celtics to give him a guaranteed deal. He fits under the tax this year, and they were likely going to add him to the roster by the end of the year anyway. His salary will below the vet minimum next year, which is valuable to the Celtics who will be a tax team. The NBA does not need to give the team relief.
Question for you guys. Couldn't this work out in Mitchell's and the Celtics' favor?
Let's say that Mitchell goes back to college and improves so much that he's deemed to be a sure-fire lottery pick in next year's draft.
Since he was originally drafted as a 2nd rounder he's not locked into the rookie scale for four years before getting paid.
In fact he could get paid for the 2026-27 NBA season (starting in March) and also it could be a deal that pays more than a lottery pick-- for let's say 2-3 years, whatever the C's and Mitchell want.
Just spitballin' here. But it could be to Mitchell's benefit to then sign with the Celtics and not go back into the draft?
The problem is the Celtics will likely not have the exception to sign Mitchell to such a deal, especially while also resetting the repeater tax this year. To sign him requires an exception. The exception for second round picks goes up to around $1.8 million in year 1, and in Year 2 gets to around $2.5 million or so, and then is based of the league minim for years 3 and 4. (The numbers are difficult to find and I do not have them off the top of my head). Pick 30 will get over $3 million next year and over $6 million guaranteed for his first two years. It is pretty comparable to what he would likely make over three years with the 2nd round exception, and a lottery pick makes about double what pick 30 makes. So the second-round exception is not very competitive with going back into the draft in your scenario.
The mid-level exception would sometimes be an option, but in the Celtics case they already used in on Mitchell Robinson so it is unavailable.
The last option, which gets closest to what you are talking about, is the bi-annual exception. The Celtics could sign Mitchell late enough on the season to prorate it and keep them under the tax.
However, next year his salary could be up to $5.7 million. The Celtics are already projected to be about $13 million into the tax, and this would push them even farther. Additionally, the bi-annual exception is only for a contract of up to two years, so Mitchell would reach restricted free agency after barely a year with the Celtics, and would require a large qualifying offer just to keep him. So this would work for Mitchell, but not at all for the Celtics.
If the Celtics like him they should just beat back St Johns and give Mitchell the minimum 2nd-round exception for four years, which would guarantee him around $3.5 million and keep him in Boston for two years while he develops and proves himself. If the Celtics put him on a 2-way the most likely outcome is that he was going to be added to the roster in March anyway and kept next summer because he is cheaper than any free agent option to fill out the back of the roster. If someone they really like shakes loose during buyout season they should still have enough to add him to a rest of season deal and stay under the tax by waiving the less useful of Garza or Conley, but when was the last time a March buyout proved remotely useful? I know this reduces optionality but keeping Mitchell is likely more valuable than keeping open the 15th roster spot. And they can keep developing him in Maine for two years if they want. They do not have to have him on the Boston bench every night.
It also gives the Celtics a third 2-way contract spot, which is something they have used effectively over the years to find cheap talent (Hauser, Queta, and Harper Jr. were all first signed through 2-way free agency).
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