The Boston Celtics proved to be one of the most active teams during this year’s trade season, making a handful of transactions prior to and during the day of February 10th’s deadline which, of course, was headlined by the acquisition of two-way guard, Derrick White, from the San Antonio Spurs.
With all of these moves made, Brad Stevens and co. were able to not only get the team underneath the luxury tax threshold but, also, opened up five total roster spots, two of which have already been filled by the likes of Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet.
Still, with three seats on the bench that have yet to be filled, the C’s will undoubtedly be scouring the buyout market in an effort to bring on some well-established complementary assets to help aid in their quest to embark on a deep postseason run.
Of the bevy of names slated to become free agents within the coming days/ weeks, we at HH believe there are 3 potential buyout candidates that could prove to be perfect fits within Boston’s rotation:
Boston Celtics buyout option No. 1) Kent Bazemore
At the deadline, the Boston Celtics made many great additions, but they also had to part ways with a few key contributors from their first half of the season along the way.
Perhaps the most notable departure was Josh Richardson, who was sent to the San Antonio Spurs as part of the Derrick White exchange.
The veteran served as a highly impactful presence on both ends of the floor, providing Boston with solid defensive production and a trusty shooting stroke from beyond the arc (shot nearly 40 percent from deep on 3.5 attempts per game).
With him now gone, Boston will likely look to try and replace these attributes out on the wing be it by means of bestowing current players more minutes within the rotation or via signing players found on the free agency market.
If they ultimately go to the latter option to do this, potential buyout candidate, Kent Bazemore, could prove to be an ideal choice to consider.
Though he may not have the type of upside that a guy like Richardson possesses, the 32-year-old has made a career for himself by providing similar attributes to that of the former shamrock.
A serviceable 3-and-D role player, since 2016 Bazemore holds solid averages of 10 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.2 steals, and just over half a block per game on 36 percent shooting from deep.
While he is by no means a top-flight player in this league, Bazemore has shown flashes (even this season, despite his limited role with the Los Angeles Lakers) of still be capable of producing efficiently on both ends of the floor and would be a very low-risk move to add some temporary depth.