With the old core gone and Jayson Tatum being out for most of the next season, the Celtics are looking for new solutions. The headache for Joe Mazulla and Brad Stevens is to build a roster that can contend for the championship with Jaylen Brown and Derrick White as main players. So, the Summer League becomes the right place for the rest of the players to showcase their worth. For Jordan Walsh, it was working out well until a moment that was a proper head loss for him.

Walsh was ejected with 3:34 left in the second quarter of the Celtics’ game against the Heat on Monday after a hard foul on the Heat’s Pelle Larsson. That too in front of the GM Brad Stevens. The altercation started when Walsh fouled and then shoved Larsson, which resulted in Heat star falling into the first row full of Celtics executives. Larsson wasn’t going to leave and confronted Walsh as tensions rose. Walsh then gave the Heat wing another push right in front of the officials. Back-to-back pushes, and eventually that led to Walsh’s ejection as he picked up his second technical foul of the game.

Before his ejection, Jordan Walsh led all scorers with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field in his 10 minutes of action–His best game to date during Summer League. But that’s not what most are going to remember. The referee also explained the situation. “After review, after the common foul by Walsh, there’s been a double technical foul on Walsh and Larson. It’s also Walsh’s second technical foul, so he’ll be ejected from the game.”

The first foul for Jordan Walsh was when he pushed Stevenson after scoring with 3:41 left in the second quarter. Seconds later, there was another push and then the double-hand push, which proved to be costly for the Celtics guard. For the 21-year-old, this summer is also important for another reason. The third-year wing’s contract is not fully guaranteed for next season. So far, the Summer League has been a great platform as he averaged 15 points in Boston’s first two games in Las Vegas.

Jordan Walsh and his form during the Summer League

Walsh was the overall #38th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and can be considered one of the veterans already. Even though the 21-year-old is entering just his third pro season, he is suddenly the sixth most tenured Celtic. Before the Summer League, Jordan Walsh also explained that he is in constant communication with teammate Jaylen Brown, whom he also considers a mentor. For the past two seasons, Walsh has only 486 minutes over the past two seasons to prove himself. That’s why his career average stands only at 1.6 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.

With the Summer League on, the 21-year-old understood the assignment. The C’s finished off the victory in their opener in Las Vegas with a 92-78 win over the Grizzlies. Jordan Walsh led the way with 17 points for the Celtics; Gonzalez added 12 points and five assists in his C’s debut. In the second game against the Knicks, too, Walsh proved his scoring once again, but an issue persisted.

It was big man Charles Bassey who grabbed the headlines on his debut. With a team high of 22 points with 13 rebounds, Walsh wasn’t behind in making headlines either. He finished with 13 points, though he racked up seven fouls in his 25 minutes. The reason he did not foul out because in the Summer League, players foul out after 10 personal fouls. The Knicks game should have served as a reminder for the third-year star, and yet it didn’t.