The Boston Celtics are taking a swing on Devin Carter, even though the Golden State Warriors passed on him when they had their own chance to bring him in last offseason.
Carter, who was waived by the Atlanta Hawks last week, has agreed to a training camp contract with Boston, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Marc Stein reported Monday night that Carter chose the Celtics over potentially richer offers elsewhere, betting on fit and opportunity instead of the biggest payday.
"Word is Carter, who was selected No. 13 overall by Sacramento in 2024 and still has one fully guaranteed season left on his original rookie deal, prioritized the optimal situation over contractual terms in his search for a new team and will try now to jumpstart his career now with the Celtics," Stein wrote.
That’s a notable bet from Boston on a player whose career has hit a rough patch. The Warriors were offered Carter by Sacramento in a sign-and-trade for Jonathan Kuminga last offseason, but declined. Now the former lottery pick enters his third NBA season trying to get back on track.
Carter’s numbers with the Kings help explain why his market was modest. In his second season, he averaged 8.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 41.4% from the field and 26.3% from 3-point range. As a rookie, he posted 3.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists.
Sacramento’s original decision to take Carter at No. 13 overall in 2024 drew attention at the time, especially with Kel'el Ware and Jared McCain going two of the next three picks. Still, Boston is betting that its development system can get more out of him than the Kings did.
The Celtics are taking essentially a free shot here. The Warriors, by contrast, would have been sending out a former seventh overall pick, Dario Saric and two second-round picks in that deal. That’s a very different calculation, and one Golden State was right to walk away from.
For now, Carter gets a new start in Boston, and the league will keep watching to see whether the Celtics can turn a former lottery pick into a useful rotation piece.
In Other News...
Warriors May Be Eyeing A Much Bigger Swing Than Fans Expected
The market around the Warriors has kept shifting, with Marcus Smart taking a two-year, $12.4 million deal with Houston and the Lakers adding Collin Sexton on a two-year, $19.2 million contract while other teams continue to reshape their rosters. Against that backdrop, Golden States search for more firepower feels less like a minor tweak and more like a sign the front office is still weighing a far more ambitious move than it first let on.
What makes the situation more interesting is the name that keeps surfacing in connection with the Warriors: Devin Booker. There is clearly a sense around the league that Golden State could be thinking bigger than a standard depth addition, especially with Sacramento taking a low-risk flier on Ben Simmons and Steve Ballmer choosing not to push back legally over the NBAs cap-circumvention sanctions, a reminder that the rules landscape around team-building remains very much in flux. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Fans Just Got Pulled Into An Uncomfortable Steph Curry Debate
The latest round of Warriors talk has drifted from game results to the kind of uncomfortable long view that always seems to follow a dynasty. On a podcast, Marcus Thompson II raised the possibility that Golden State could eventually have to make a hard call on Draymond Green if the teams performance slips down the line, a thought that immediately fed broader chatter about how long the core can stay intact. From there, the conversation spilled onto social media, where one post imagined Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson all finishing their careers in different places, a stark reminder of how quickly an era can feel like it is closing.
For Warriors fans, Curry remains the emotional center of the whole debate because he has been clear about wanting to stay in Golden State for the rest of his career. Still, the business side is never far away, and his current contract situation only keeps the speculation alive around what the next chapter could look like. Even without any immediate change on the horizon, the conversation has already shifted from whether the dynasty mattered to how much longer its defining pieces can realistically stay connected. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Struggles Just Put Draymond Green At The Center Of It
The Warriors uneven start has already pushed the franchise into an uncomfortable conversation about what comes next, and Draymond Green sits right in the middle of it. NBA insider Kevin OConnor reported that Golden State could look at broader roster changes if it decides to shake things up, with the veteran forward part of the discussion as the front office weighs its options.
Greens situation is especially notable because he is on a one-year deal, while the team also has some financial flexibility thanks to expiring contracts. Stephen Curry is expected to stay put, but the rest of the picture is far less settled, and Golden States struggles have only made Greens future more of a question as the February trade deadline approaches. [Read more 🡒]