The Boston Celtics have signed rookie Dillon Mitchell to a two-way contract, according to the team. The signing ended a saga in which there was a real possibility that Mitchell could decide to return to St. John’s for a fifth year of college basketball.
Tounde Yessoufou, who transferred from Baylor to St. John’s this summer, reportedly signed an NIL deal worth around $6 million. Meanwhile, Mitchell’s new two-way contract with the Celtics is worth just $678,882. Had Mitchell made around the same amount as Yessoufou, he could be making almost 10x the money he is now.
The NCAA’s new rules state that players have five years of eligibility. It’s that simple. You can play college sports for up to five years after you graduate high school, and after that, your eligibility is cut off. For overseas players, the clock for that window begins the year after your 19th birthday (or immediately after college enrollment).
By those rules, Mitchell would be allowed to re-join the Red Storm for his final season of college ball. He spent two seasons at Texas, one at Cincinnati, and one at St. John’s before declaring for the 2026 NBA Draft.
Had Mitchell returned to college, the Celtics could have lost their rights to him. As Bobby Manning of CLNS Media noted, they would have been able to tender a qualifying offer, but he could have declined it and returned to St. John’s anyway. Boston would have retained his rights up until the 2027 NBA Draft, which Mitchell could have entered.
However, the NCAA recently sent out a memo regarding its eligibility rules. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports posted it to social media. It clarified that players who departed from college to pursue professional opportunities would not be allowed to return to the NCAA. That would include Mitchell.
Returning to college would have made sense for Mitchell. He could have made significantly more money next season, and if he played well, he could have been a first-round pick in 2027. That would have earned him more guaranteed money.
Instead, he’ll spend next year with the Celtics, likely with plenty of time logged in Maine. But based on his performance at Summer League in Vegas this summer, the Celtics should be thrilled to be able to keep him in-house.
Mitchell may have been Boston’s
