Celtics’ Carsen Edwards Shares Special Bond With Patriots’ Ja’Whaun Bentley

CANTON, Mass. — Carsen Edwards enters his first training camp with the Boston Celtics as a high-scoring rookie from Purdue, but he’s had some help getting adjusted to the New England lifestyle from a fellow pro athlete in the area.

Patriots linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley is a close friend of Edwards’ from their time at Purdue. Their ties extend long before Edwards was drafted by the Celtics, but since then, Bentley has helped the guard’s adjustment to his new life.

“Ja’Whaun Bentley, man. I don’t even consider him a friend, I consider him a brother,” Edwards said Monday at media day. “It’s not even just sports, we talk about life. Just things that make us happy, things like that. It’s way more than just the game. I’ll ask him questions about how he was as a rookie and just kind of him feeling it out and getting to where he is now. But we also just try to find things to do with our free time and I guess for me just learning everything from a new perspective and him being there for me and helping me in all sorts of ways.”

Edwards should provide Boston with a quality scoring punch off the bench, giving them some nice backcourt depth as they enter the 2019-20 season.

The Celtics begin training camp Tuesday at the Auerbach Center.