Celtics to sign Al-Farouq Aminu, Norvel Pelle

The Celtics have agreed to sign forward Al-Farouq Aminu and big man Norvel Pelle to 10-day contracts via hardship exceptions, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Boston currently has eight players in the health and safety protocols. The team has signed Justin Jackson, C.J. Miles, and Joe Johnson to 10-day deals, but remains eligible to sign a few more replacement players and will take advantage of that allowance to add Aminu and Pelle.

An 11-year veteran, Aminu has averaged 7.5 PPG and 6.0 RPG across 711 total regular season games for six teams. The 31-year-old, who has long been considered a strong defender, has battled health issues in recent years and has only played in 41 total games since signing a three-year, $29M+ deal with the Magic during the 2019 offseason. He was traded from Orlando to Chicago in last season’s Nikola Vucevic blockbuster, then was rerouted to San Antonio in the DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade in August before being waived by the Spurs in October.

Pelle, meanwhile, has played for a handful of international teams and has bounced back and forth between the NBA and the G League over the last two seasons. The 28-year-old appeared in a total of 37 games from 2019-21 for the Sixers, Nets, Kings, and Knicks. A talented rim protector, Pelle has averaged 2.2 blocks per game in 95 career G League contests and put up 8.9 PPG and 8.3 RPG in his first nine games (22.1 MPG) with the Cleveland Charge this season.

Assuming they clear the COVID-19 testing process in time, Aminu and Pelle could join the Celtics for their Christmas Day game in Milwaukee on Saturday.