Boston Celtics: Lakers sign away C’s feel-good offseason story

A minor Shams bomb was dropped Monday night as Charania reported that the feel-good story of the 2022 Boston Celtics offseason, Matt Ryan, was signed away by the Lakers on a non-guaranteed training camp invite.

Celtics fans know Ryan as the two-way contract holder during the team’s run to the 2022 NBA Finals who worked at a cemetery after college and later drove for DoorDash and UberEats for extra cash during the COVID-19 pandemic in his native White Plains, New York per The Athletic’s Jay King. 

Now, they may end up knowing him as the man that ends up being the next Max Strus as a spot-up threat on a LeBron James and Anthony Davis-led Lakers squad. With the way the C’s luck is going recently — having their head coach suspended for the entire 2022-23 season a month after their biggest free agent signing tore the same ACL he tore in 2013 — that seems like the next logical progression.

The Boston Celtics already have someone in Matt Ryan’s role

Against the Milwaukee Bucks on July 11 during the NBA Summer League, Matt Ryan hit a miraculous game-winner, one in which he injured his left ankle upon landing from the shot, and had a team-high 23 points while knocking down 6/11 from the 3-point line.

After hitting the shot, Ryan broke down and got emotional in talking about his journey from an anonymous delivery diver to being a member of a defending Easter Conference championship roster.

Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. Fortunately, it isn’t the end of the world.

Sam Hauser is already playing the knock-down catch-and-shoot role on the wing for the Boston Celtics, having signed a 3-year, $5.6 million deal this past offseason. With Danilo Gallinari tearing his ACL, the Marquette/Virginia product is due for big minutes.

Had the Cs acquired Kevin Durant, Boston could have used another sharpshooter like Ryan around him with depleted depth from such a blockbuster deal. But since that didn’t happen, Hauser will face an uphill climb to minutes as is if members of the backcourt play up a position this season.