Huge Advantage: Boston Celtics are closing in free Agent who could ‘would surely take’ 20 PPG

According to Brian Robb of MassLive, the Boston Celtics “would surely take” the 20-point-per-game scoring wing Kelly Oubre Jr. on a minimum deal to end the free agency season, but the former Kansas standout is probably looking for a bigger position and an associated higher salary elsewhere.

“The Celtics would surely take him for the minimum but he’s likely holding out for a bigger role elsewhere for type of money,” Robb commented in response to a reader’s query about why Oubre wasn’t signed. “In free agency, we already witnessed one shoe drop with Christian Wood, who hoped a significant opportunity would present itself for him in Miami possibly following a Lillard deal. He chose the Lakers instead because there was no deal in the works there.

It’s a touch absurd to see a player who averaged 20 points per game the previous season have to make do with the bare minimum. Oubre may follow a similar route. However, shooting 31 percent from three-quarters while playing for a club that is tanking won’t win you many admirers.

With the Los Angeles Lakers still a free agent despite their recent signing of Christian Wood and a bevy of other offseason additions, Oubre would be a luxury signing for the Celtics at this juncture in the offseason, but one that is not very likely.

frugal last-minute Free-agent additions for the Boston Celtics
Oubre is an NBA player with starting potential, but the Charlotte Hornets have mostly wasted his potential over the previous few seasons. He can be a top role player or quasi-star when the circumstances are ideal, as seen by the 20 points per game he averaged in the 2022–23 season.

Fans of the Boston Celtics should have more realistic expectations and anticipate that a marginal player will sign a non-guaranteed training camp contract and prove themselves. This brings us full circle to their previously identified targets, Lamar Stevens, T.J. Warren, and Louis King.

All of those players would offer reliable, if unspectacular, hands on the wings on evenings when Jayson Tatum and/or Jaylen Brown need a break.