There’s technically no official deadline for the Boston Celtics to bring in a player from the buyout market.
But their pickings are getting much, much slimmer, especially if the Celtics want to have that player be eligible to play in the postseason.
The last day players can negotiate a buyout and still be able to play in the postseason is March 1. While a player can sign with a new team after that date, any player that orchestrates a buyout after that deadline wouldn’t be allowed to suit up in the playoffs.
Basically what it means for the Celtics is if they want to add a piece that can help them try to get back to the NBA Finals, they won’t have much to choose from unless a player surprisingly comes to a buyout agreement basically within the next 24 or so hours.
While the Celtics acquired Mike Muscala from the Oklahoma City Thunder ahead of the NBA trade deadline earlier this month, the organization gave indications that they were perusing the buyout market to fill Boston’s open and final roster spot prior to the playoffs.
“We’re looking at buyout candidates and free agents,” Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck said on WEEI’s “Greg Hill Show” in February, as transcribed by MassLive’s Souichi Terada. “I’d be very surprised if we went into the playoffs with an open roster spot, don’t think that’s going to happen.
“There’s a question whether you sign people to 10-day contracts to check them out if they’re willing to accept a role where the team’s pretty deep, so there may not be a lot of minutes. People don’t necessarily want to sign for that. It might not be good for their career.”
The Celtics so far haven’t made any moves on the buyout market while watching potential targets, some of who they have been linked to, in Terrence Ross, Danny Green, Kevin Love and Will Barton sign elsewhere.
There are not many intriguing names left out there — John Wall surely doesn’t move the needle anymore — so the Celtics may opt to give the final roster spot to a G League player.
