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The Maine Red Claws, the Boston Celtics NBAGL affiliate, announced the Justin Bibbs, Marcus Georges-Hunt, Nick King and Jeff Roberson will join the team as Affiliate Players.
The Maine Red Claws announced that Justin Bibbs, Marcus Georges-Hunt, Nick King and Jeff Roberson, who were all camp with the Boston Celtics, will join the team as Affiliate Players.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) October 19, 2018
Each NBA team is allowed to assign up to four Affiliate Players to their NBAGL team. These are players who completed training camp/preseason with the NBA team and subsequently sign with the NBAGL. Each player remains an NBA free agent and is eligible to sign with any NBA team, not just Boston.
For Georges-Hunt this will be his second season with the Red Claws. He played in Maine as an Affiliate Player during the 2016-17 season. Georges-Hunt played in 45 games (40 starts) before drawing a call-up from the Orlando Magic late in the year.
Georges-Hunt was a late addition to the Celtics training camp roster, as he was added as a potential roster replacement for Jabari Bird. As Bird’s situation remains unresolved, Boston waived Georges-Hunt prior to the start of the regular season. He’s a player to monitor, as he has clear NBA talent and the Celtics have some level of interest in having him join the NBA club.
For Bibbs, King and Roberson, this represents a chance for Boston to continue to work with and develop three players they had in camp. Should a need arise, and their play prove worthy, any of the three can earn a call-up to the NBA.
The NBAGL Draft is Saturday, 10/20/18 and training camps open next week. The Red Claws season will tip off on Friday, 11/2/18. In addition to Bibbs, Georges-Hunt, King and Roberson, the Maine roster will include Two-Way players P.J. Dozier and Walt Lemon Jr.
40 percent of the players on NBA rosters to open the 2018-19 season have played in the NBAGL. The NBA recently announced plans for players who are not yet eligible for the NBA Draft to join the NBAGL. This will begin with the 2019-20 NBAGL season. 27 NBA teams currently have an NGAGL affiliate, with the New Orleans Pelicans planning to add their own NBAGL affiliate in the next two years.