John Tonje did everything he could to prove he is an NBA player in this year's NBA Summer League. He was the only Boston Celtics Summer League player to start in every game in Vegas. He had literally only one flat game, and it came on a back-to-back game schedule. Every other game, he was one of the stars on the floor and a major reason that the Celtics won three games. The only game Boston lost was the game that Tonje didn't have his best stuff with him.
According to Amile Jefferson, the Boston Celtics' Summer League coach, Tonje is an NBA player and deserves to be in the league. The coach had extremely strong words about Tonje and how much he brought to the Celtics this season. In an article by the Boston Herald, Jefferson said, "I think he is definitely an NBA player, and when he plays that hard, it just makes everybody on the team better."
Jefferson said that he became a team leader this week in Vegas and someone that the Celtics Summer League roster could rely on. "He’s become a leader. We can lean on him. The thing you want as a coach is dependability. You want guys that you know what you’re going to get from them, and for me, that’s exactly what he’s been."
John Tonje has really made a case this NBA Summer League. After 4 games:
— Badger of Honor (@BadgerOfHonorFS) July 16, 2026
15 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.3 STL shooting 46.2% from 3.
Amile Jefferson has no doubt about former Badger John Tonje's NBA future
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Tonje hasn't had an easy road to the NBA so far. He started as a second-round pick of the Utah Jazz and was later traded to the Boston Celtics for salary considerations. Tonje was then part of the Celtics' salary cap decisions off and on, even though he was tearing it up for the Maine Celtics.
This offseason, it looked like his NBA dream may have been dead in the water as he wasn't retained by the Celtics. However, they did give him a chance to come back on a Summer League invite. Meaning his contract was only guaranteed for the week in Vegas. He will now be working to negotiate another contract with Boston or maybe even see if another team will give him an NBA chance.
The Celtics do have room; they have one spot on the 15-man roster and two spots for a 2-way contract. So, they could make the decision to give him one of those three spots, and Jefferson is convinced that's the route that the Celtics need to take.
Jefferson is not the head coach of the Celtics but just the NBA Summer League team; he's normally an assistant on the bench for Boston. So he will have some say, but not a lot. Most of what the NBA does with their bench and fringe players is salary-based more than performance-based. So Tonje may still be a casualty of the NBA salary decisions, but the strong words of Jefferson are encouraging for the former Badger.
Tonje would clearly add value to an NBA team, maybe the Celtics, maybe somewhere else. His dream isn't dead, and according to Jefferson, it's very much alive.
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