The Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday traded a heavily protected second round pick to the Boston Celtics in exchange for guard Dalano Banton just minutes before the trade deadline.

Late Thursday night, the Blazers made the trade official.

Banton has recorded 2.3 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 7.1 minutes per game in 24 games with the Celtics this season. He has also appeared in two NBA G League games with the Maine Celtics this year, posting 29.5 points (43.5% FG, 33.3% 3-PT, 64.3% FT), 5.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.0 blocks in 34.8 minutes per game.

In 119 career games (four starts) in one season with Boston and two seasons with the Toronto Raptors, he has accrued career averages of 3.4 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 9.6 minutes per game.

The 6'8″ guard didn't have much of a future with Boston and they needed to clear roster space, so the Blazers were willing to take him off their hands. The pick that was sent back is a 2027 top-55 protected pick, which means that unless Portland is one of the top-5 teams in the NBA that season, it won't convey.

As for Banton's future in Portland, it's not clear what he has to offer on an NBA level. Blazers GM Joe Cronin has shown a willingness to take flyers on young players from other teams, as indicated by last season's acquisitions of Matisse Thybulle, Kevin Knox, and Cam Reddish. If nothing else, the move gets Portland to the minimum 14 roster players.

Additionally, with Shaedon Sharpe out with core muscle surgery for the time being, having one more guard on the bench would help alleviate a situation like Thursday night's loss to the Pistons – where the Blazers were forced to play Ashton Hagans at point guard in crunch time, despite having been called up only six hours before hand.

Banton has a $2.2 million team option for next season. If Portland picks it up, it becomes $217,533 guaranteed until the start of the 2024-25 season. If Banton is on the Blazers’ opening-night roster, $1.1 million of his salary will end up guaranteed while the rest of it will be guaranteed if he’s not waived before the league-wide guarantee date of Jan. 10.