Going into the 2025-26 season, Ron Harper Jr.’s NBA career was seemingly stuck in mud. After going undrafted in 2021 out of Rutgers, he began his career with the Toronto Raptors for the first two seasons of his career where he played a total of 10 NBA games. He started last season with Boston in training camp but was waived and spent most of the season 2024-25 season with the Maine Celtics where he played a total of 14 games before signing a two-way contract with the Detroit Pistons.
Harper Jr. played the last 23 games of the G League regular season with the Motor City Cruise before getting the chance to play one game with Pistons on the last game of the season, but that would be his last game with Detroit. The Pistons would waive Harper Jr. on July 24th, 2025 after averaging 16.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.2 assists, and 39% shooting from 3-point range in the G League.
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He would reunite with Boston a month later on August 16th, 2025, signing an Exhibit-10 Deal to attend training camp. This is where the story of Ron Harper Jr.’s incredible 2026 season begins. Through grinding in Maine to slowly creeping his way up the Celtics depth chart to finally ending his season starting in the biggest game of his career, you couldn’t write a better redemption story if you were trying to pitch it to Disney.
Preseason and Maine Celtics
Preseason was an import time for Ron Harper Jr. because was fighting for a two-way contract against a lot of stiff competition. He played well in the three games, averaging 4.3 points in 10.6 minutes per game while shooting 40% from the field and 42.9% from three-point range. He was awarded the final roster spot on the Celtics, signing a two-way contract on October 16th, 2025.
He made it a point to comment on his familiarity with the Celtics system that helped him feel more comfortable this time around. He said, “Being here last year, I feel like it helped me gain a grasp of the system a little better, a little faster…so, I feel like I was a step ahead in that aspect.”
Harper Jr. spent most of the first half tearing up the G League, averaging 26.9 points on 49.7% shooting from the field and 39.8% shooting from three in eight games for the Maine Celtics in their Tip-Off Tournament. He continued his stellar play into the regular season, including Player of the Week honors for games played from November 17th-23rd where he averaged 36.0 points, 7.0 assists, and 6.0 rebounds in a 2-0 run.
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His best game during this stretch came on November 21st, 2025 where he dropped 46 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds on the Delaware Blue Coats while shooting 16-26 from the field and 7-14 from three including a game winning layup with 1.1 seconds left to give Maine the victory.
During this time, he was seeing spot minutes with Boston but mostly at the end of blowouts. In only seven games from October to January, Harper Jr. averaged 1.9 points on 31.3% shooting from the field and 25% shooting from three in 5.0 minutes per game. This drop in performance was a stark contrast to his play in Maine and although the numbers didn’t jump off the page, Ron Harper Jr. was about to get his shot.
Becoming a star in his role paid off
Ron Harper Jr. got his first real minutes on February 2nd, 2026 when the Celtics were on the second half of a back-to-back with Jaylen Brown and Sam Hauser out. Harper Jr. would be thrust into the starting lineup for the first time in his NBA career and be matched up with Kevin Durant for most of the game. He thrived, finishing with a (at the time) career-high 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists on 4-8 shooting from the field and 3-7 shooting from three in the Celtics under-manned 114-93 win over the Rockets. Not only did his offense come up big, he also played lock down defense on Durant, holding him to 2 points on 1-5 shooting and one turnover in 4:41 minutes matched up with KD.
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He had a busy All-Star Weekend following his career game, being chosen to be on the G League team of NBA Rising Stars Challenge and competed with his father, 5x NBA Champion Ron Harper and brother, San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper in the Skills Challenge.
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 14: Ron Harper Jr. #13, Ron Harper Sr. and Dylan Harper #2 of Team Harper pose for a portrait during the State Farm All-Star Portraits – 3PT Slam Dunk Shooting as part of NBA All-Star Weekend on Saturday, February 14, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Coming out of the All-Star break, Harper Jr. continued to find more minutes as the dog days of the season started to come around. In February, he averaged 4.5 points in 16.3 minutes per game, but really started to impress on the defensive end. Harper Jr. surpassed his career high in points scored for the second time on March 10th, 2026 against the San Antonio Spurs. With Jaylen Brown ejected early in the game, Harper Jr. stepped up to score 22 points on 8-11 shooting from the field and 6-9 shooting from three in a close 125-116 loss.
His play on a two-way contract caught the attention of Brad Stevens in the front office and after everything he went through this season, on April 4th, 2026, Ron Harper Jr. signed an official two-year standard contract with a club option for the 2026-27 season. From starting the season not even guaranteed a roster spot to signing an official contract six months later is an incredible story and everyone across Celtics Nation was so happy that he finally made it. Harper Jr. would reward the front office’s trust in him with his best performance on the final game of the season.
The Orlando Magic came into the game playing all of their starters for a chance at better seeding in the Eastern Conference while the Celtics played their bench guys. It looked like the Magic weren’t taking this game serious at all after building a lead but the Celtics stormed back behind Ron Harper Jr. igniting for his now career high 27 points along with 7 rebounds and 3 steals on 10-20 shooting from the field and 5-12 shooting from three. Boston would win the game 113-108 and Harper Jr. would finish his season with career highs across the board. In 29 games played he averaged 4.2 points, on 41.8% shooting from the field and 35% shooting from three.
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The playoffs saw Harper Jr. go back to his role as a reserve player for most of the series where he hyped up his teammates and played at the end of a few blowouts — that was until Game 7 when Jayson Tatum was ruled out. After showing a ton of fight at the end of the Celtics Game 6 loss with the rest of the stay ready group, Joe Mazzulla put Ron Harper Jr. in the starting lineup for Game 7 for his first career playoff start. Harper Jr. only played 4:02 minutes and shot 0-1 in the first quarter before sitting the rest of the game, but he did make a couple really nice defensive plays with two steals.
Future for RHJ in Boston?
What impressed me the most with Ron Harper Jr. this season was the defense he was able to play against other high level wings. He is a ball hawk when it comes to forcing steals and can hold his own against bigger offensive players. On offense, he can be a microwave scorer when given the chance, but he also did a great job of playing his role as a catch-and-shoot three-point shooter from the corners.
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I think Ron Harper Jr. has been able to secure his spot on this Celtics team going into next season. I think his role moving forward will be similar to what it was this season: a solid third option at the wing that can play in case of an emergency and can hold his own on both sides of the ball.
Harper Jr. is just a guy who is so easy to root for. His story alone but he was also able to show off his personality as the season went. He was a big member of the Celtics players who would play Catan on team flights, he was always celebrating his teammates on the bench, and he was able to ingratiate himself within the Celtics community, going to multiple autograph signings around the city.
His brother Dylan Harper might be the one in the spotlight right now with his playoff run in San Antonio, but Ron showed this season that he is a legitimate NBA player and he has the potential to carve out a solid career for himself.
