The Celtics are just a week away from opening the regular season against the Detroit Pistons on Oct. 20 in Detroit, and there’s already plenty on their plate before the games start counting.
Boston has bigger-picture questions to sort through this year than it has in the recent past, with Jaylen Brown gone and Paul George in the mix. Even so, the team still has a real chance to be an elite one. Beneath all of that, there are also smaller roster calls to make, including one tied to the club’s two-way spots.
Right now, the latest reporting points to Devin Carter as the player with the best shot at landing that deal. “As of now, it appears guard Devin Carter has the best shot at that two-way contract.
Carter has been sick recently, which is poor timing considering he’s playing for an open roster slot. But he impressed in the win over the Cavaliers last week, finishing with 17 points and showing some impressive flashes offensively,” Souichi Terada wrote.
Carter is worth a close look. The 2024 lottery pick, taken by the Sacramento Kings, showed stretches last season where he looked like he belonged, but his year was mostly defined by a lack of progress from deep and an inability to really settle in. He played in 38 games and averaged 18.4 minutes per night.
At 24, he still has the profile of a player worth betting on. He also brings some New England ties, having attended Brewster Academy in New Hampshire and Providence in Rhode Island.
With that background and his recent draft status, he’s a logical name in Boston’s competition for the spot. That doesn’t make the decision easy, but it does make Carter a strong candidate to come out on top.
In Other News...
Derrick Whites Place In Bostons Title Core Looks Bigger Than Ever
Derrick Whites rise in Boston has become one of the clearest signs of how the Celtics built their championship core around more than just star power. Since arriving in a trade from the Spurs in 2022, White has grown into a fixture on both ends of the floor, and his role only expanded during Bostons 2023-24 NBA Finals run, when he averaged 16.7 points per game and kept showing the kind of two-way impact coaches love to trust.
The bigger picture now is just how firmly White is planted in the middle of the teams future. Boston already committed to him with a four-year extension in 2024, and his standing around the league keeps climbing as his reputation for defense, composure and leadership strengthens inside the organization. For a Celtics team that has leaned on chemistry as much as talent, White looks less like a complementary piece and more like part of the foundation. [Read more 🡒]
Sam Hauser Is Forcing A Real Celtics Starting Lineup Debate
Sam Hauser has spent enough time around the Celtics to know how his value is supposed to show up: hit open threes, make the right read, stay solid on the other end, and let the stars do the rest. Entering his sixth season in Boston, he has again looked like the kind of low-maintenance wing every contender needs, and a recent preseason game against the 76ers only reinforced that he can tilt minutes in the Celtics favor without needing the ball in his hands.
What makes this more than a routine depth conversation is how often Hauser keeps pushing his way into bigger lineup questions. Boston already knows what it has in Jayson Tatum, and the presence of Paul George only adds another layer to the wing rotation, but Hausers steady shooting and smart defense are making it harder to treat him like a simple bench piece. If he keeps stacking games like that, the debate around Bostons best starting group is only going to get louder. [Read more 🡒]
NBA Legend Points To What Helped Split Tatum And Brown
The Celtics championship run in 2024 ended with a title, but the conversations around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown never really stopped. DeMarcus Cousins recently pointed to one of those moments as a turning point in how the outside world framed Bostons star duo, saying Jason Kidds comments during the Finals helped deepen the perception that the two were being measured against each other.
Kidd, then coaching Dallas, praised Brown after Game 1 in a way that fed the debate about who Bostons true alpha was, even as the Celtics moved on to win the series. Brown had already claimed East finals MVP honors, and the chatter lingered long after the parade, with the two All-Stars no longer teammates two years later. [Read more 🡒]