Blazers Sign John Tonje

The Portland Trail Blazers have signed guard John Tonje to a two way contract for the 2026-27 season. Tonje replaces Caleb Love, who signed with the 76ers earlier this off-season.

Tonje was drafted by the Utah Jazz with the 53rd pick in the 2025 NBA draft. He signed a 2-way contract with the Jazz and spent most of his partial season there playing for the teams G-League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars.

He was traded to Celtics for Chris Boucher and a future second round pick where he saw his contract converted from 2-way to a 10-day regular contract. It was later converted back to a 2-way contract for the remainder of the season.

Tonje played 29 G-League games between the Salt Lake City Stars and Maine Celtics, where he averaged 18 points and 5 rebounds a game while shooting 35% from three.

In his NBA career, Tonje played 6 games for the Boston Celtics, averaging 2.5 points along with 1.5 rebounds on 30% shooting from three.

He played his best basketball in college averaging 19.6 points and 5 rebounds per game in his final year at Wisconsin before being drafted.

Tonje excels as a catch and shoot player from the perimeter, is more than sufficient from the free throw line, and posseses the physicality to hold his own against bigger opponents. He lacks the ability to create shots for himself and his teammates and is a defensive liability. He is still raw and malleable and could very well be a low risk-high reward type player, whose ceiling is in the making.