Boston Celtics: C&C tabs T.J. Warren or Thomas Bryant as next signing

Danilo Gallinari was the opening salvo fired off by the Boston Celtics during the 2022 free agency period and there could soon be another addition to the second unit according to Chowder & Champions’ Owen Crisafulli. T.J. Warren and Thomas Bryant were tabbed as the next potential signings by Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens and co.

With the Cs adding ‘Gallo’ to the forward rotation, the next piece of business could be to replenish the depth at center following the Daniel Theis trade–who are we kidding, we all know it’ll be remembered as the Malcolm Brogdon trade–and that’s where Bryant’s name comes in. Currently, the Washington Wizards’ free agent big man is between Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers for his next destination.

Of course, the Boston Celtics could go in a different direction and continue to add scoring along the perimeter to combat the small-ball Golden State Warriors that just knocked them off in the NBA Finals and proceeded to nab a Celtics target, Donte DiVincenzo, on the free agent market. That’s what makes a Warren pursuit a particularly intriguing one — though Blue Man Hoop’s Tony Pesta called Warren a potential Warriors target as well.

 Injuries could make a T.J. Warren and/or Thomas Bryant signing possible for the Boston Celtics

T.J. Warren, as Crisafulli pointed out, has played just four games due to a foot injury since the Lake Buena Vista bubble down in Walt Disney World’s Wide World of Sports complex during the hellish summer of 2020. Bryant, on the other hand, played 37 games over the past two seasons, which Crisafulli believes stunted his growth as a player.

Both players are available because of injury woes that have consumed several seasons of their professional primes (Warren is 28, and Bryant is 24) but could potentially overcome their inactivity like John Wall did in 2020-21 or Joel Embiid in 2016 after being drafted two years earlier. Obviously, those are somewhat extreme cases considering Warren and Bryant’s ceilings will likely never be as high as those of the aforementioned duos, but the Boston Celtics don’t need stars; the Cs need role players.

The veteran’s minimum is the only means of adding talent, so the only way either would be available is if all the teams with the MLE remaining passed on them. It’s up to the open market to determine if that will be the case.