Celtics Select Three In G League Draft

PORTLAND, Maine – The Maine Celtics rounded out their roster for Training Camp on Saturday, making three selections in the NBA G League Draft.  

Training camp begins in Portland on October 28 with 15 players reporting to camp for the Celtics. Maine owned the ninth, 21^st and 54^th picks in the 2024 Draft and used all three selections on Saturday to bolster their roster.  

With the ninth pick in the G League Draft, Maine selected Eric Gaines, a 6’2 rookie guard from UAB. The 23-year-old recently averaged 12.3 points, 5.5 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 2.3 steals in 35 games for the Blazers in 2023-24. Gaines started in 33 of those 35 contests, helping lead UAB to an American Athletic Conference tournament championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance in his senior campaign.  

Before playing at UAB, the Lithonia, Georgia native began his collegiate basketball career at LSU where Gaines played two seasons for the Tigers. During his sophomore season, Gaines averaged 9.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game while also leading the SEC in steals with 2.1 per contest.  

The Celtics added another guard at pick 21, selecting London Johnson, who most recently played for the G League Ignite. The 20-year-old started all 11 games he appeared in for the Ignite in 2023-24, averaging 10.5 points, 4.1 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game in his second season in the G League. In 2022-23, Johnson appeared in six games with Ignite, averaging 8.2 points, 2.2 assists and 1.7 rebounds per game.  

In 2022-23, Johnson was the second two-year player to join the Ignite, following Scoot Henderson, who was drafted third overall by the Portland Trailblazers in the 2023 NBA Draft. Johnson also has experience in international play, suiting up for Jamaica in the 2021 FIBA CentroBasket U17 Championship in Mexico. At that event, Johnson averaged 36.0 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 4.0 steals. He was a four-star prospect out of high school, reclassifying to the 2022 class before making the decision to bypass college and sign a two-year contract with Ignite.  

Maine rounded out its frontcourt at pick 54, selecting 6’10, 240-pound forward Kavion Pippen. Pippen’s professional basketball career began in 2019 with the Golden State Warriors, where he appeared in four preseason games for Golden State in 2019-20. The 28-year-old from Hamburg, Arkansas played college basketball at Southern Illinois. Pippen averaged 12.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game for the Salukis in 2018-19. In addition to his experience in the NBA G League, Pippen has previously played professionally in Qatar, Tunisia, Spain, Mexico, and most recently in New Zealand in the NBL.  

Pippen’s most recent G League experience came with the Long Island Nets in 2022, where he averaged 8.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 41 games. In 2023, Pippen signed with the Nelson Giants in the NBL, averaging 15.3 points and 5.1 rebounds before departing Nelson after nine games. Pippen rejoined the Long Island Nets in October 2023 but was waived by the team prior to the start of the season.  Pippen is the nephew of NBA Legend Scottie Pippen.

Maine will have to cut their roster down to 13 players by November 7, which includes the team’s three, two-way players in JD Davison, Drew Peterson and Anton Watson. Maine’s regular season tips off on November 8 on the road against the Long Island Nets.  

Full Training Camp Roster: 

Former Maine Celtic Matt Ryan was selected first overall by the Westchester Knicks. After trading for the second overall pick, the Knicks drafted Landry Shamet. Maine will host Westchester in the Celtics home opener on November 15 at 7:00 p.m. in the Portland Expo.