The Boston Celtics still have one open roster spot, and the names floating around it are the kind that grab attention fast: Bradley Beal, Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan.
But if you’re asking whether any of those veterans actually make sense in Boston, the answer from this corner is no.
Beal has been connected to the Celtics, and Jake Fischer said on a Bleacher Report live stream that the feedback he got was not to rule out the possibility of the three-time All-Star teaming up with Jayson Tatum. Still, that feels like more noise than fit.
Tatum, by most accounts, doesn’t spend much time steering front-office decisions, and he trusts Brad Stevens and Boston’s executive group to handle that side of things. The bigger issue is that Beal, now 33, wants minutes.
In Boston, the minutes he’d take are better spent developing the Celtics’ young wings. If Beal lands somewhere else, Miami looks like a cleaner match, where he could join a team projected to be among the best in the East and still have a meaningful role.
Westbrook brings a different kind of appeal, and the résumé is impossible to ignore. The former league MVP just finished a season in which he averaged 15.2 points, 6.7 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals for the Sacramento Kings while playing 64 games and logging 29 minutes per night.
At 37, that kind of workload and durability still says plenty about his commitment, and it’s the sort of career that will one day land him in the Basketball Hall of Fame. But the fit in Boston is shaky.
He turned the ball over 3.3 times per game, struggled from deep, shot under 43 percent from the field and below 34 percent from three. He’d bring chaos, and while that can help at times, it doesn’t look like the right kind of chaos for the Celtics’ backcourt.
There’s also the question of how he’d handle a reduced role, especially after starting 58 of the 64 games he played last season. With Mike Conley in the mix and Joe Mazzulla likely leaning into lineups with three wings more often than two guards, Westbrook’s minutes could dip to a career low.
That’s not a great setup for either side.
DeRozan is in a similar bucket. A year ago, it was at least worth thinking through the idea of bringing in the six-time All-Star in a trade that would have moved Jrue Holiday’s contract.
Even then, it didn’t feel like the right move. Now he’s available at a relatively low price in free agency, but that doesn’t change the calculus.
In his age-36 season, he posted 18.4 points, 4.1 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. He remains a mid-range specialist and a better passer than he gets credit for, but his game still doesn’t stretch far enough beyond the arc to fit cleanly in Boston.
The same concern remains about taking time away from Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh and Ron Harper Jr., and the same issue lingers around how DeRozan would react to a much smaller role after averaging 31.2 minutes in 77 starts for the Kings.
So what should Boston do with that final spot?
The two best options, as it stands, are simple. The Celtics can leave the 15th roster spot empty, which keeps flexibility intact and helps on the tax side, while still allowing them to fill it later if the right player comes along.
Or they can use it on Dillon Mitchell, who impressed at Summer League and could earn a standard NBA contract if he backs that up in training camp and the preseason. Boston could then sort out the two-way competition separately.
For now, Mitchell looks like the cleaner swing. And compared with the questions that would come with Beal, Westbrook or DeRozan, it’s the one that makes the most sense.
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The reaction is easy to understand because this debate never really disappeared, even during the seasons when the partnership worked at the highest level. Tatum and Brown spent nine seasons together and still managed to win the 2024 championship through all the dysfunction, heartbreak and playoff disappointments, which is why any suggestion of tension now carries extra weight for anyone still measuring what their run in Boston meant. [Read more 🡒]