3 early in-season buyout candidates the Boston Celtics could pursue

The Boston Celtics have certainly made the most of this year’s offseason what with the key acquisitions and roster-bolstering moves made by Brad Stevens and co.

That said, even with these clutch additions, when looking at the current state of their depth chart, though they may be stronger than the one that came within two wins of winning the 2022 NBA Finals, without a doubt, there are still a few holes that could use some filling.

Obviously, it does not appear that this front office is enamored with any of the remaining free agents so, if they wish to bring on any outside reinforcements, it will likely either come by means of one of their remaining TPEs or via the buyout market.

Now, while the former option certainly sounds more entertaining on the surface, there’s a real chance that the latter route could wind up giving Boston the biggest bang for their buck, as there likely could be several intriguing names making their way into free agency early on into the season.

With this in mind, today we present 3 buyout candidates the C’s could pursue during the early stages of 2022-23:

Boston Celtics buyout target No. 1) Derrick Favors

Leading into the twilight hours of their lofty $17.1 million TPE’s life expectancy, we at HH couldn’t help but feel that acquiring Derrick Favors could have wound up proving to be a great way to utilize the exception.

In need of a trusty backup for both of their primary bigs in Al Horford and Robert Williams, we believed that the veteran’s size and skill set made for an ideal second unit option to have behind the starting duo within the rotation.

Ultimately, Stevens opted to not use the highly touted luxury and, instead, simply let it expire.

Now, to some, this decision was seen as a missed opportunity, as this team is gunning for the 2023 NBA Championship and it was believed that absorbing a player with the TPE could have been a great way to properly strengthen their lineup moving forward.

And while we at the Houdini certainly can see some valid points to this argument, if they can wind up snatching Favors up off of waivers instead and sign him to a reduced rate (currently slated to make just over $10 million this year), then all should absolutely be forgiven.

Fortunately for both fans and the Celtics franchise, the idea of seeing the 31-year-old being bought out this year seems to be quite realistic when considering the fact that he’s a veteran presence racking in the third-highest salary on this youth-driven ball club.

In other words, if he were to be kept on board, he’d essentially resemble a highly-expensive statue taking up a spot on the bench.

On the title-hopeful Boston Celtics, however, Favors could serve as a valuable backup frontcourt presence who can take the place of either Horford or Time Lord (players who should be granted as much time on the bench as possible) within the rotation and play the role of screen setter, rebound gobbler, and rim protector, all three are attributes that he has only proven to excel in throughout his career.