Boston Celtics

Down 5 players due to COVID, Celtics reportedly sign Justin Jackson with hardship exception

Jackson played for three teams in his first four seasons in the league, but has played impressively in the G League this season.

Justin Jackson, pictured with Al Horford, played with the Thunder last season. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

By Conor Roche

1 minute to read

As the Celtics deal with a COVID-19 outbreak, they’re calling on G Leaguers for extra help. The team will sign forward Justin Jackson with the hardship exception, according to multiple reports.

Jackson, a fifth-year forward out of North Carolina, currently plays for the Texas Legends, the G League affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks. In 10 games this season, Jackson’s scored 22.7 points per game to go along with 7.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. He’s also been a 3-point threat, making 41.4 percent of his shots from deep this season.

Jackson began his career with the Sacramento Kings, who drafted him with the 15th overall pick in 2017. The Kings traded Jackson to the Mavericks during the 2018-19 season. Jackson played a full season in Dallas before getting traded to Oklahoma City prior to the 2020-21 season. The Thunder waived Jackson midseason. Jackson did finish the season on a two-way deal with the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks, but he didn’t see any playing time during their playoff run.

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Over his first four seasons in the league, Jackson’s scored 6.6 points per game on .526/.321/.797 shooting splits while mostly coming off the bench. He’s also added 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game during his career.

The Celtics placed five players (Al Horford, Grant Williams, Jabari Parker, Juancho Hernangomez, and two-way rookie Sam Hauser) in the league’s health and safety protocols Thursday and Friday. By having that many players in the league’s health and safety protocols, the Celtics were able to use a hardship exception to sign a player – which allows teams to sign a player to go over the 15-player roster limit if they have four or more players that will miss at least three games.

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In addition to the players in health and safety protocols, the Celtics were without guard Dennis Schröder in Friday’s loss to the Warriors due to a non-COVID illness. He’ll also miss Saturday’s game against the Knicks. Guard/forward Romeo Langford, who started against the Warriors, left Friday’s game early due to a neck injury. He’s questionable for Saturday’s game.

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