Boston Celtics: CP lists 3 former top 6 draft picks for DPE
On the same day that the Boston Celtics were granted a $3.29 million DPE by the NBA after losing free agent signing Danilo Gallinari to a potentially season-ending ACL tear over the summer, they were given some grace with the absence of Steven Adams against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Joe Mazzulla utilized a 9-man rotation and started and played Grant Williams for 38 minutes for the first time in a win that didn’t cover the spread, but he didn’t get a good test for his center rotation — which may need one soon to determine whether or not they can hang with the oversized Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks frontcourts.
The backup center spot is one that may require attention even when Robert Williams III returns from arthroscopic knee surgery in either December or January and Boston’s DPE could potentially address that.
ClutchPoints’ Daniel Donabedian listed 3 former top 6 NBA Draft picks as options for the Boston Celtics’ DPE, naming Dwight Howard, Willie Cauley-Stein, and Derrick Favors as options.
Derrick Favors would be the only option worth the DPE for the Boston Celtics
Dwight Howard hasn’t made more than the veteran’s minimum since the 2018-19 season, and Willie Cauley-Stein, as ClutchPoints’ Daniel Donabedian points out, is currently playing in the G-League. That either would be an option for the DPE is erroneous, since it’s likely they would both be quite content with a vet’s minimum deal.
Derrick Favors is the only one of the bunch that likely was waiting on a team to offer him more than the minimum, since he was someone worth over $10 million before he was waived by the Houston Rockets following a September 29 trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder that also sent Ty Jerome, Theo Maledon, and Moe Harkless for David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss.
With the Cs getting the chance to attract a better talent than the vet’s minimum could, it’d be a waste of Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens’ resources to sign someone he could have added this entire time anyway.