12 Boston Celtics that never played a single minute
By Tyler Watts
4. Max Strus
Strus went undrafted in 2019 after two years at DePaul. The 6’5 wing’s first NBA opportunity came from the Celtics. He played for Boston in the Las Vegas Summer League and earned a two-way contract in the 2019 offseason. Strus did not make it through training camp as the Celtics waived him on Oct. 19, 2019.
Three days later, he joined the Bulls on a two-way deal. The 6’5 wing played in just two NBA games as a rookie but showed enough in the G League to get a deal from the Heat. Strus took off in South Beach. He was the Heat’s starter throughout their playoff run to the NBA Finals in 2023. His three seasons in Miami earned him a four-year $63 million contract in free agency this summer.
The Boston Celtics had the first crack at developing Max Strus. He was on a two-way contract, so he did not need to play in Beantown. The franchise could have let him improve in Maine with the Red Claws and called him up if necessary. There is no guarantee that Strus would have stayed beyond the first year, but the Celtics decided against taking that chance.
The 6’5 wing is a quality role player who would excel playing next to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in Boston, but the Celtics gave up too quickly.