The Celtics opened up their preseason campaign on Thursday night with an impressive 124-113 win over the Cavaliers. Cleveland, a team coming off an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, was almost at full strength, while Boston sat Jayson Tatum, Paul George, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Neemias Queta, Mitchell Robinson, Sam Hauser, and Ron Harper Jr., plus had Joe Mazzulla sitting in the locker room.
And still, you wouldn’t have known that the Celtics were the team playing without their top seven and their head coach, as they took it to the Cavs from the jump, dominating with their depth, destroying them from the three-point line and on the glass.
There were many eye-catching performances, but perhaps none better or more noteworthy than that of one of the newest Celtics, Devin Carter. Carter was the 13th overall pick out of Providence by the Kings in 2024, but he was traded in the offseason and later waived by the Hawks.
He chose to sign an Exhibit 10 deal with the Celtics, and frankly, it took about one half of preseason basketball for this to look like a match made in heaven. Carter is an absolute dog, relentlessly muscling his way to the rim, finishing in traffic, drawing fouls, and more.
Carter was a pest on the defensive end, mixed it up on the glass, and stayed in attack mode nonstop. All told, he finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals in 24 minutes off the bench, and the Celtics were +22 while he was on the floor, the best of anyone on the team.
Carter looks the part of an NBA rotation player
Everyone knows the talent is there with Carter, the son of NBA journeyman Anthony Carter. He won Big East Player of the Year as a Junior, making himself a lottery pick just two years ago. The big question for him has been shooting, and that may remain the case, but he went 5/9 from the field and 1/3 from deep in this one, hitting all 6 of his free-throw attempts.
Obviously, this is a very small sample, and Carter still has a long way to go before carving out a role in the Celtics’ rotation - heck, he hasn’t even made the team. But he certainly looked like belonged out there, showing the kind of aggressiveness that will earn him minutes in Boston before long.
This felt like a great low-risk, high-upside gamble the second the deal was announced, and after seeing him play, it looks even better. It’s hard to imagine Carter not locking up the final two-way spot at the very least, and it’s easy to see him getting that deal converted to a standard contract once it can be prorated to keep the team under the luxury tax line.
The Celtics are always looking for dogs, and guys with this kind of pedigree and talent who defend, handle the ball, pressure the rim, and play with this kind of force don’t exactly grow on trees. Being able to grab one off the scrap heap like this is quickly looking like an absolute steal for Stevens and the Celtics.
Add us as a preferred source on Google