“Shrek & Donkey” wasn’t the only duo formed on the Celtics this past season.

During the Celtics’ quest for a championship, Tony Gaffney and Oliver Lafayette were on journey of their own. The two rookies were trying to make it in the NBA.

“It’d be tough having to do this alone,” Gaffney told WEEI.com. “It’s cool doing this with somebody else who’s in the same situation as you.”

This week, the pair has the chance to make their mark on the Celtics Summer League roster in Orlando.

They are no longer the new guys in town. Both were signed to non-guaranteed contracts with the Celtics in April and were with the team during their entire playoff run. They shared in the ups and downs of transitioning to life in the NBA, and along the way formed a support system for one another. The two could practically finish each other’s sentences.

“He hates having me around,” Gaffney joked.

“No,” Lafayette said with a smile. “I like having Tony around, knowing someone else is working hard just like I’m working hard. We push each other. We push each other for the best.”

Though they share the same goal, Gaffney and Lafayette are different both on and off the court. Gaffney is a sarcastic 6-foot-8 forward from the Boston area who refuses to drop the word “wicked” from his vocabulary. Lafayette, on the other hand, is a 6-foot-2 guard from Baton Rouge with a southern accent and laidback demeanor.

But it works.

“Both of us play different positions, so he pushes me when I don’t feel like going, I push him when he doesn’t feel like going,“ said Lafayette. “So that’s the great thing about having another person with you. We try to compete with ourselves. We try to do the best for each other.”

Summer League is an opportunity for both players to show how much they have learned already with the Celtics, and the potential they have for the future.

Last season, Lafayette, a former D-League standout, played one game with the Celtics. He scored seven points, grabbed four rebounds, and dished two assists in 22 minutes against the Bucks. Gaffney, however, had broken his foot months earlier playing overseas and took in the games from the sidelines. 

The two saw plenty of each other in practice, though, and developed an appreciation for one another’s games.

“Just the way he approaches the game, he’s a competitor,” Lafayette said of Gaffney. “You can’t beat that. When somebody wants to compete in the game of basketball, that’s the hardest thing to beat is a competitor.”

Said Gaffney, “Oliver is a ballplayer, a scorer that soon the world is going to find out. It’s just a matter of time. I’ve seen little hints of it here and there because when he plays against all these guys, he does more than just hold his own. It’s cool. I’m looking forward to playing with him this summer and getting better with him.”

Even though their futures on the Celtics are not guaranteed, there is one thing Gaffney and Lafayette can count on.

“In the end, we both have the same goal,” Gaffney said. “Our goal is to be here next year at this same time in this same situation. So it’s kind of easy to push one another because this is our lives. It’s cool.”