What to do with the Celtics who allegedly attended John Wall’s practice originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
How will the Boston Celtics replace Marcus Smart? Apparently they are considering a wide range of options.
The Celtics were one of at least two teams that attended the private practice of free agent guard John Wall on Sunday.reported Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
The 2010 NBA Draft No. 1 pick and five-time All-Star, Wall is an elite scorer and dynamic playmaker when healthy. However, he hasn’t been healthy for long: the 32-year-old missed all the 2019-20 and 2021-22 campaigns and played only 74 games in the last four seasons. He played 34 games for the Los Angeles Clippers last season almost mostly as a substitute, averaging 11.4 points and 5.2 assists in 22.2 minutes per game.
So why would the Celtics be interested in a player on the wrong side of 30 with a significant injury history?
For starters, Boston could use more point guard depth after trading Smart in late June. Derrick White is the slated starter with Malcolm Brogdon and Payton Pritchard as backups, but there’s still a chance the team could leave Brogdon either this offseason or before the NBA’s trade deadline.
Whether Brogdon stays or leaves, the Cs would benefit from a playmaker like Wall who can attack the paint and create space for their shooters. Wall averaged 8.5 assists per 36 minutes in Los Angeles, so he’s still a very capable facilitator when healthy and could help diversify the Celtics’ offense after relying heavily on shooting at 3 points last season.
Wall’s biggest draw, however, might be its price. He played on a $6.5million contract last season after earning $44million the previous year and may be willing to sign a team-friendly contract that would keep the Celtics under the second deck. payroll tax. (They currently have about $7 million to spend before they hit that threshold.)
It’s still unclear how much Boston is interested in Wall, but there’s no harm in exploring if he would be a good low-risk, high-reward pick.