NBA Rumors: Celtics ‘Contender’ To Land Andre Drummond On Buyout Market

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Andre Drummond officially reached an agreement to buyout the center’s contract, and he’ll soon be a free agent.

Could he end up with the Boston Celtics next?

One day removed from the NBA trade deadline, The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach on Friday reported the center was being targeted by the team in the buyout market.

“The Celtics might not be done tinkering with their roster after acquiring Fournier, Wizards forward Moe Wagner, and Bulls forward Luke Kornet,” Himmelsbach reported. “According to a league source, the Celtics intend to pursue Cavaliers center Andre Drummond once his buyout agreement is finalized.”

Once the agreement was announced, Marc Stein of The New York Times followed up with a similar report, sharing “the Celtics have emerged as a contender to watch in the race to sign soon-to-be free agent Andre Drummond.”

Boston dealt a big in Daniel Theis ahead of Thursday’s deadline, but it’s hard to see why they’d want to bring in another center when they have Tristan Thompson and justified trading Theis to give Robert Williams more playing time.

Even if they planned to waive recent acquisition Luke Kornet, as one report presumed, we’re not seeing the plan here bringing a traditional post big into the Celtics’ system.

According to Stein, Boston is in competition with the Los Angeles Lakers, as well as the New York Knicks, LA Clippers and Charlotte Hornets.