Boston Celtics: Blake Griffin signing with Cs would be a surprise

If Blake Griffin were to sign with the Boston Celtics, MassLive’s Brian Robb would consider it a surprise. The current free agent veteran, who last played for the Brooklyn Nets during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, was the subject of a reader’s question in Robb’s Boston Celtics mailbag of whether Griffin is a Carmelo Anthony alternative.

Robb doesn’t seem to think so. In fact, he doesn’t believe that Anthony is even on the table himself despite Jayson Tatum seemingly blessing the possible free agent addition with his recent social media behavior.

LaMarcus Aldridge, Griffin’s teammate in Brooklyn the past two seasons, was lumped in that veteran group as well. Aldridge was forced to medically retire in 2021 but was able to return to the team last season.

Here was Robb’s response, which indicated that it won’t be the end of the road for the trio–who has 47 years of NBA experience between them–but their roads won’t be leading to the Boston Celtics:

"“At this point, it would surprise me to see any aging veteran free agents (Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, Anthony) land with Boston during camp. Those guys will get a shot somewhere but don’t see it coming with Boston.”"

Who the Boston Celtics could prioritize instead

Besides a brief appearance from Joe Johnson during the Omicron wave’s destruction of NBA depth charts last December, the Boston Celtics don’t tend to sign the kinds of veterans Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Carmelo Anthony represent. Instead, the Cs like to find internal options via the draft–they gave Romeo Langford and Aaron Nesmith chances while trusting Payton Pritchard and Grant Williams–and swing for the fences in trades.

What appears likeliest is the Cs giving Sam Hauser the minutes Danilo Gallinari was going to have and trying out Noah Vonleh and Mfiondu Kabengele for the first big off the bench role to alleviate the strain on Al Horford and Robert Williams. Justin Jackson could be in the mix for those Gallinari wing minutes as well, while Luke Kornet could simply be the big man Boston needed all along.