John Tonje has a new NBA home; what's next for the former Badgers star

Former University of Wisconsin men's basketball standout John Tonje has a new NBA home, signing with the Portland Trail Blazers on a two-way contract.

Tonje, who played in six games for the Boston Celtics as a rookie last year, averaged 2.5 points per game in his first season.

A two-way contract in the NBA means the player will split time between the NBA roster and the G League, restricted to 50 games in the NBA. Teams are allowed only three two-way contracts at a time; Tonje had the same arrangement with Boston.

Tonje made a splash playing for the Celtics in the 2026 NBA Summer League, starting all five games and logging a team-high 14 3-pointers. In the Celtics’ overtime win over the Toronto Raptors, Tonje scored 20 points and was 5-for-9 on 3-pointers.  

“I’m pretty confident, maybe even delusional. I can't lose that. I think I'm an NBA player, and that's what I'm striving to get to…I like where I'm at right now, and just gonna keep working,” Tonje was quoted on X.

Tonje, who spent four years at Colorado State and one year at Missouri, delivered a sensational single season at UW in 2024-25, averaging a gaudy 19.6 points and earning second-team All-American honors by the Associated Press. It helped get him drafted in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft, taken 53rd overall.

There aren't many Badgers in the NBA at the moment, but Tonje does unite with one of them. Big man Micah Potter was claimed off waivers by the Blazers in early July. Potter has gotten NBA minutes with Detroit, Utah and Indiana in his career, including 48 games with the Pacers last season.

Former Badgers guard Chucky Hepburn recently re-upped his own two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors; he played in two NBA games last season.

Nigel Hayes-Davis, who played 27 games with the Phoenix Suns last year and whose rights briefly belonged to the Milwaukee Bucks, has signed with a Greek team in the EuroLeague, where he's a two-time all-first-team selection and EuroLeague champion.

Gabriella Hartlaub contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: John Tonje has a new NBA home; what's next for the former Badgers star