The Houston Rockets waived guard JD Davison, a former Boston Celtics fan favorite role player, on Wednesday. The salary-clearing move ends Davison’s brief run in Houston after just one NBA season.
The 23-year-old signed his standard deal with the Rockets last year after starting the 2025-26 campaign on a two-way contract, and his exit trims a roster squeezed by luxury tax math heading into training camp.
JD Davison’s Path From Boston to Houston
Davison appeared in 28 games for Houston in 2025-26, averaging 2.5 points, 1.3 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per outing, according to The Athletic’s Will Guillory, who first reported the move.
The Rockets brought Davison aboard days after the Boston Celtics waived him on July 24, 2025, uniting the Alabama product with Ime Udoka, the former Celtics coach now running the show in Houston. He landed in Texas with a non-guaranteed 2026-27 salary still attached, the very year the Rockets just cut him loose.
Boston selected Davison 53rd overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, and he spent most of his three seasons there buried on the depth chart, splitting time with the Maine Celtics of the G League. He became Maine’s all-time leader in points, assists and steals, and he won G League MVP during the 2024-25 season while posting averages near 25 points, five rebounds and 7.5 assists a night.
That production finally earned him a standard NBA contract from Boston in April 2025. President of basketball operations Brad Stevens delivered the news personally, and Davison called it the payoff for three grinding minor-league seasons.
“Hearing that from Brad, man, it’s a dream,” Davison said, as quoted by CelticsBlog.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla framed the promotion as recognition of more than box scores.
“I think just validation in the work and the patience and the time from the years that he’s been with us,” Mazzulla said before Boston’s regular-season finale, as quoted by CelticsBlog. “I just felt it was the right thing to do because of what he’s done for our program and what he’s done as a player and what he’s done as a person off the court.”
How Waiving Davison Impacts Rockets’ Luxury Tax
Boston’s version of that story ended quickly. The Celtics waived Davison that July, a move that helped Boston duck under the second tax apron following Jayson Tatum’s Achilles injury and roster crunch.
Houston now follows suit. Waiving Davison moves the Rockets back under the NBA’s luxury tax threshold, addressing a payroll squeezed by Fred VanVleet’s standard salary and a roster that has grown top-heavy since Houston established itself among the Western Conference’s upper tier last season.
Davison had provided guard depth during VanVleet’s season-long absence with a torn ACL, and Houston converted him from a two-way deal to a standard contract in April 2026 to make him playoff-eligible after he exhausted his two-way game limit. The team exercised a non-guaranteed option on his contract for 2026-27 just weeks ago, on June 29.
Davison’s college career lasted one season. He committed to Alabama over offers from Auburn, LSU and Kansas, then averaged 8.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists as a freshman before declaring for the draft, a decision that made him more project than finished product at the NBA level.
Houston’s crowded backcourt left little room for a fringe rotation piece, even one with Davison’s physical tools and defensive energy. His release leaves him an unrestricted free agent for the third time in three years, still chasing the standard NBA role his G League résumé long promised.
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Former Celtics Fan Favorite JD Davison Cut by Rockets in Luxury Tax Move appeared first on HEAVY.