4 things to know about Jay Scrubb, who signed two-way deal with Celtics
Scrubb, who excelled at Summer League, has had a long, winding path to the NBA.
The Celtics reportedly signed wing Jay Scrubb to a two-way deal on Saturday after a standout performance at the Las Vegas Summer League.
Here’s what you should know about Scrubb.
Scrubb was the first JuCo player drafted since 2004.
Scrubb’s path to the NBA has been well-documented, and with good reason – it’s a winding, feel-good story that works only for a select few.
A talented high-school player who grew up in a tough part of Louisville, Scrubb had a 0.0 GPA and failed out of Louisville’s Central High School. Freshmen who struggle to make grades early often struggle to make the necessary grades to play NCAA basketball, and Scrubb was no exception. He attended Louisville-based prep school Trinity High as a junior and senior and his situation improved, but he remained academically ineligible for Division I when he graduated.
So Scrubb went a different route. He attended John A. Logan College in Illinois, where he quickly established himself as the top junior college prospect in the country and garnered a wave of interest from Division I programs that previously couldn’t offer him a spot.
Scrubb ultimately committed to Louisville, but as his season went on and he displayed a complete package of NBA skills and physical attributes, the draft increasingly seemed like a possibility.
Scrubb was suspended from the Logan team for three games following Thanksgiving break as a sophomore for arriving back on campus late, but his coach Kyle Smithpeters told the Louisville Courier-Journal in 2020 that part of the reason Scrubb was suspended was to give him a break from all of the attention.
“Jay went through some trials and tribulations last year with all the attention he was getting. His head got so big it couldn’t fit through a room, and it got deflated,” Smithpeters later told The Score. “The thing you’ve got to give Jay a lot of credit for is he went back to the drawing board. He just pulled his boots up, man. Went back to work, grinded it out, got himself where he needed to be mentally and physically, and stopped listening to all the noise.”
Despite Scrubb’s struggles, his coach at Trinity – Mike Szabo – spotted the talent early on and compared Scrubb to former Trinity star and G-Leaguer Ray Spalding.
“He’s a special, special athlete,” Szabo told the Courier-Journal in 2018. “It’s the same thing I told Ray: ‘You’re sitting on a winning lottery ticket.’ He could play professionally at some level someday.”
That proved prophetic: Scrubb was picked by the Nets with the No. 55 pick in 2020, before he was dealt to the Clippers. He became the first JuCo player selected in the draft since 2004, when Donta Smith was picked out of Southeastern Illinois College.
Smith and Scrubb are close, and — in an odd twist — Smith and Scrubb’s JuCo coach Smithpeters were college teammates.
“That’s my big brother. He tells me he’s proud of me to this day,” Scrubb told the Score in 2020. “He just wants guys to pay attention to my story, and make sure (that I know) guys are going out there and working at whatever level they’re at – D-I, D-II, D-III.”
Scrubb bounced around in the NBA
Scrubb signed a two-way deal with the Clippers after he was drafted, but he missed most of his rookie season after undergoing surgery on his right foot – a procedure that was done to “maintain” his elite athleticism, per the Los Angeles Times. Scrubb played extensive minutes in the final two games of the Clippers’ 2020-21 season, scoring 17 and 14 points against the Rockets and Thunder respectively.
The next season, Scrubb signed a minimum deal with the Clippers and played sparingly, scoring a season-high nine points in nine minutes in November. In February, the team announced he would miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to repair the plantar plate in his right foot.
The Magic signed Scrubb to a two-way deal last year. The team waived him in June.
The Celtics had interest in Scrubb previously
Scrubb excelled at Summer League, averaging 16.5 points per game before playing just 11 minutes in the finale against the Magic. He showed all of the skills that intrigued teams before the draft — elite athleticism, impressive finishing ability and a nice-looking 3-point jumper.
According to Scrubb, he nearly signed with the Celtics late last season.
“I feel like it’s been great,” Scrubb said, per The Boston Globe. “I’ve shown my versatility. Usually I’m an on-ball scorer, but I think this summer league I’ve shown that I can play without the ball, knock down shots, create for teammates and take care of the ball.”
Those were important skills for Scrubb, who drew NBA comparisons to J.R. Smith before he was selected. Smith, who was selected out of high school, initially entered the NBA with star projections but settled into a highly productive career as a 3-point marksman.
The Celtics still have room for one more two-way contract
For the first time this season, courtesy of the new CBA, NBA teams can sign up to three players to two-way contracts. Under this CBA, players on two-ways will make half the rookie minimum, which will be $1.12 million in 2023-24, and they are eligible to appear in up to 50 NBA games. To play in the postseason, a two-way player’s contract must be converted to a fully guaranteed deal. Two-way deals are non-guaranteed.
Scrubb and J.D. Davison — the Celtics’ second-round pick last year — are now both on two-way contracts. They still have room to bring in one more player, which could help them bring additional talent to training camp. Jordan Walsh, who the Celtics selected with the No. 38 pick in this year’s draft, signed a four-year deal earlier this offseason.
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