There was a fair amount of roster turnover for the Boston Celtics this offseason, but their new-look squad won’t feature veteran forward Jared Dudley, despite some reported interest on his end.
Dudley, who turned 34-years-old last month, was among those not brought back by the Brooklyn Nets this offseason as part of their own roster overhaul. Ultimately, Dudley landed in a pretty decent scenario, signing with a Los Angeles Lakers squad that boasts LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
In his Sunday basketball notes, the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn indicated that Dudley (a Boston College product) was interested in the C’s, but they were the ones to say no.
“Dudley was interested in playing for the Celtics, but Boston refrained because it had enough wings and wanted to save its remaining roster spot,” Washburn wrote.
Such a decision on the Celtics’ end isn’t a total surprise, especially since they’ll enter camp with multiple viable candidates for that final roster spot, among them Tacko Fall.
At this point in his career, Dudley is more of an end-of-the rotation player who can bring some energy to the floor when he plays. He’s known as a great locker room presence, which might have been reason enough to sign him for last season’s team, but not for the current group.
In 59 games with Brooklyn last season, Dudley averaged 4.9 points with 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per contest. The Lakers will be his seventh team since breaking into the league in 2007.
