Boston Celtics: What’s next for Garrison Mathews after Cs release?

Garrison Mathews is no longer a member of the Boston Celtics after being cut Saturday following the team’s final preseason game on Friday night.

He pitched in five points in five minutes in a 121-100 loss to the Miami Heat in a game that was missing Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, and Robert Williams.

This was always a formality considering the makeup of the Boston Celtics roster.

Rookie Sam Hauser is one of the C’s two-way contract holders and comes into the league with the potential to fit in as a catch-and-shoot specialist with good size. Mathews was always redundant to Hauser, who would have needed to bomb in the preseason to lose his spot.

Now, Mathews hits the free agent market with a clear-cut destination his agent should give a call to: the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers have already been hit with the injury bug, losing Trevor Ariza and Talen Horton-Tucker to long-term injuries, and also seeing Kendrick Nunn’s and Malik Monk’s statuses for opening night come into question.

The last thing that the Lakers need to do is lean too much on their veterans as the 2021-22 season begins. Los Angeles’ two best players, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, were not healthy last season by and large and it cost them home-court advantage in the first round of the postseason and required them to win an NBA Play-in game to qualify.

In fact, Davis’ Achilles issue was probably the death knell to their hopes of becoming back-to-back champions. LeBron James proved in 2018-19 that he couldn’t be the sole superstar and lead the Lakers anywhere.

Russell Westbrook has played anything close to a full season since the 2017-18 season, and Kent Bazemore (32) and Carmelo Anthony (37) don’t have the freshest legs themselves.

While Austin Reaves could similarly be a roadblock like Hauser is, Mathews (career 39% 3-PT shooter) could exploit a small opening in the Lakers depth chart at the start of the season to become a lethal 3-point threat alongside LeBron.