Celtics sign Jordan Mickey

The Boston Celtics announced on Monday that they have signed No. 33 overall pick Jordan Mickey to a 4-year, $5 million deal, with the first two years being guaranteed.

Boston has signed 33rd overall pick Jordan Mickey to a four-year, $5M deal, league sources tell RealGM. Ex-LSU PF gets two guaranteed years.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 20, 2015

Mickey had been negotiating with the Celtics in hopes of securing a short-term deal that would allow him to hit the open market sooner, but eventually came around to signing a long-term deal with Boston. The Celtics were able to use some of their remaining cap space to complete the deal, which allows Mickey to make a bit more money up front while giving Boston control of his services for up to four years, with the flexibility to cut bait after two if he fails to meet expectations.

Alternatives would have included an option to sign Mickey to a minimum-salary contract starting at $525,093 in the first year, but that would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent after two years. He also could have signed a one-year tender for a non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract and become a restricted free agent after one season. Neither of those options were particularly appealing the Celtics.

Mickey was a standout in Vegas summer league, averaging 13.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 5 games. Boston likes the 6'8'' power forward for his rim protecting ability and had remained hopeful all summer that they could find a way to squeeze him onto the roster.

Boston now has 16 guaranteed contracts, so something has to give before the season starts and they will need to cut down to no more than 15 roster spots. There will be more moves before then, but signing Mickey to a multi-year deal signals the Celtics intentions to keep him in the picture.