Devin Carter could join the line of Kings castoffs to thrive with Celtics

It's official: Devin Carter is the newest member of the Boston Celtics. Well, for now he is. He will have to work from the ground up to make the team, as Boston signed him to an Exhibit 10 deal. In other words, he's on a training camp deal.

Even so, it's not hard to believe Carter could work his way up to making the team. Boston has an open standard roster spot and an open two-way spot, so if he proves he's a fit for this team, neither he nor the Celtics would have to jump through too many hoops to keep him.

He would follow the exact same path as Ron Harper Jr. if all goes well. If it does, he'd be the next installment of what's been a line of specifically Sacramento Kings castoffs who found themselves in Boston.

Neemias Queta

Queta's story has been pretty fantastic in Boston. After the Kings waived him to make room for JaVale McGee (ironic, given that the Celtics tried to get McGee almost a decade prior), Boston scooped him up. Queta didn't light the world on fire when he first joined the team, but when the Celtics called his name (when they were undermanned), he came through.

Two years later, he's now the Celtics starting center for the foreseeable future. Queta is coming ogff a Most Improved Player campaign, and he did it without Jayson Tatum, someone who has a reputation for getting the most out of the bigs he's paired with.

The Kings evidently slept on Queta's abilities, and now he's become a foundational piece of the Celtics' future. After the extension he signed, don't be surprised if Queta plays one of the NBA's most team-friendly deals.

Isaiah Thomas

You better believe IT would show up here! Okay, so technically, Thomas wasn't directly cast off by the Kings onto the Celtics, but close enough when you think about it. Sacramento didn't want to keep him, so Phoenix got him as part of a bizarre three point guard experiment. When that failed, he became a Celtic.

Do we really have to recap what happened from there? It has been almost a decade since IT time ended in Boston, but everyone remembers the imprint he left as a Celtic. So much so that trading him to Cleveland remains among the most heartbreaking trades in franchise history.

What started out as simply getting a prime Sixth Man of the Year candidate turned into the Celtics getting their next MVP candidate. And it never would have happened if Sacramento had seen through what they had in him.

Fun fact: Boston wanted Thomas when he hit free agency in 2014, showing they had their eyes on him for a while and their eye for talent.

Shelden Williams

Ah, now HERE'S a blast from the past. Williams wasn't drafted by the Kings, but was traded there halfway through his second season. Williams, who was drafted No. 5 in 2006, was seen as a draft bust. He didn't exactly disprove that in Boston, but he played well enough to keep his NBA career alive for a few more years.

But how did Williams get that chance for a title contender like Boston? Well, thanks to Glen Davis' lack of foresight (i.e., breaking his thumb by punching his friend days before the 2009-10 season), Williams got the chance to save his career.

It's not like Williams suddenly lived up to his potential, but he did well enough in Davis' place that his career extended another two years. He is definitely the most obscure Celtic on this list, but it doesn't take away from the fact that Boston took a castoff from Sacramento and turned him into something useful.

If all goes right for Carter, he will probably be right between what Williams was for Boston and what Queta is for Boston. It would be awesome if he turned into IT, but let's not be ridiculous.

Boston's benefited from specifically Sacramento throwing away their players before. Poetically, it would make sense if it happens again.

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