Devin Carter still has his work cut out for him to actually make the Celtics roster and revive his once-promising NBA career. But it does seem like he wanted to be in Boston badly, and there’s hope that he can figure it out with this coaching and developmental staff. It seemed a little odd that the Hawks were willing to waive the 2024 lottery pick, and that’s even more true after recent reporting from Marc Stein and Jake Fischer.
Fischer reported that the Hawks and Hornets have been negotiating a trade that would send Buddy Hield to Charlotte and Dorian Finney-Smith to Atlanta. He also added that one version of the trade that was discussed included Devin Carter, but the Hawks chose to waive him instead.
There wasn’t much more detail reported, so it’s unclear whether the Hornets weren’t interested in Carter, if Carter preferred to get waived, or something else entirely. But it’s certainly interesting and notable that there seemed to be mutual interest in a deal between the teams, a young recent lottery pick was on the table, and the player was waived instead, with a deal still not being done.
Obviously, Carter’s value around the league wasn’t high, but you’d think a young team that’s trying to gather assets and build towards the future, like the Hornets, would be happy to take a low-risk flier on a player like that.
Carter may have intentionally steered his way to Celtics
So, perhaps, Carter and his camp made it clear that he would rather take a non-guaranteed ‘prove-it’ deal in Boston, betting on himself and that organization, rather than continuing to bounce around from team to team where he may or may not really be a part of their future plans.
Again, I’m doing some speculating here. I don’t know exactly what the Hawks, Hornets, or Carter was thinking, and for all I know, this may have just been part of a negotiation that ultimately went nowhere. But the timing is definitely interesting, and considering how glowingly Carter has already spoken about the Celtics franchise, it’s fair to wonder if his camp played a role in this situation.
Either way, it seems like things worked out for the Celtics and Carter, as this could potentially be a fruitful marriage. We may never know how close this deal ever came to happening, or what role, if any, Carter played in derailing it, but for now we can at least consider it a stroke of luck and be glad that things have worked out.
If Carter does end up catching on in Boston and becomes a useful player for the Celtics, we may look back at this trade that never was as a major sliding-door moment for the franchise, and perhaps a couple of Southeast Division teams as well.
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