Boston Celtics: 3 remaining positions of need and FAs that could fill them

Boston Celtics need #3: Veteran insurance on the wing

Free-agent to fill the need: Wes Matthews

The Boston Celtics have plenty of depth on the wing, with Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, and Aaron Nesmith all capable of playing extended stretches.

Richardson, at age 27, is the ‘old head of the group. As a 27-year-old myself, I certainly don’t see that as having much mileage.

Boston could add a war-torn veteran who just served as a depth piece on the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks (though unfortunately not the championship season for either team) and could do the same on the Cs.

Signing someone like Matthews to play in case of an emergency is a low-risk, high-reward move that could pay off if the depth chart starts to hurt early on in the year. Should it not, dumping his likely short-term minimum deal would be of very little cost to Stevens’ long-term vision to preserve cap space.

It’s not spectacular, but it’s functional to have a guy like Matthews on hand to prepare for any given scenario. The last two years should have Stevens hardwired to think like that given how many injuries we saw league-wide.