Five Facts: Dalano Banton
The Celtics strengthened their point guard depth in July with the addition of 23-year-old Toronto native Dalano Banton.
The 6-foot-7 ball handler brings two seasons of NBA experience to Boston after serving in a backup role for his hometown Raptors.
Banton already gave C’s fans a small taste of his coast-to-coast finishing ability during Summer League in Las Vegas, where he had an impressive 18-point, nine-rebound outing against the New York Knicks.
Before he hits the court again, let’s get to know Banton on a more personal level. Here are his Five Facts.
- Banton grew up in the Rexdale neighborhood of Toronto, where he attended basketball camps hosted by former Raptor All-Star DeMar DeRozan.
- Banton split his high school hoops career between two Massachusetts prep schools. He started out at Redemption Christian Academy in Northfield and finished at MacDuffie School in Granby. At MacDuffie, he was classmates with Charlotte Hornets guard James Bouknight.
- From a young age, Banton modeled his game after former Celtic point guard Rajon Rondo. He stuck with the position, even after experiencing a massive growth spurt in high school, rising from 5-foot-9 as a freshman to 6-foot-6 by his junior year.
- Banton was the first-ever Canadian drafted by the Toronto Raptors, who selected him 46th overall in the 2021 NBA Draft. He chose the number 45 to represent the Toronto Transit Commission 45 Kipling bus, which served his neighborhood growing up.
- Banton left a historic final impression on the Celtics in the second-to-last game of the 2022-23 regular season when he exploded for 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field in the final 3:32 of action (his only minutes of the game). It marked the second-fewest minutes logged in a double-digit scoring effort on perfect shooting in NBA history (Kansas City Kings’ Gus Gerard: 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field in three minutes flat on Feb. 18, 1979).
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