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After including Daniel Theis in their trade to acquire Malcolm Brogdon from the Indiana Pacers, the Boston Celtics are on the lookout for Theis’ replacement. There are various ways in which the Celtics could find his replacement, like adding a veteran via free agency or using one of their trade exceptions to acquire one.
The Celtics’ Jaylen Brown may have hinted at whom that replacement might be. And much like Theis was, this hypothetical replacement would be a familiar face.
Brown recently liked a tweet by former Celtics teammate Aron Baynes after Baynes said that he was back to doing what he loves after recuperating from a spinal injury: playing basketball.
This stirred a frenzy among Celtics fans who speculated that the team might bring back Baynes for a second go-round.
Since taking over as president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens has brought back several former Celtics who Brown had previously played with, including Theis, Al Horford and Enes Freedom. Because he’s done it before with other former Celtics players, bringing back Baynes wouldn’t be the most surprising move on Stevens’ part.
It’s also possible Brown is simply supporting his former teammate who has been through a lot in the last year or so.
Baynes Linked to Boston
According to a source who saw Baynes work out in Las Vegas, Baynes could potentially be a good fit with Boston because the team probably wouldn’t ask much in the role it would give him.
“I can see a fit in Boston. They’ve already got [Rob] Williams and Al [Horford] and the other Williams [Grant] when they want to go smaller,” the source told Steve Bulpett of Heavy. “They wouldn’t be asking a lot from [Baynes]. He played for Brad [Stevens], so it’d be a bit different with [Ime] Udoka, but I wouldn’t see that as any problem.”
The source later explained that whether they would want to add him would depend on what Boston wants to do next during the offseason.
“It’s just a matter of what direction Boston wants to go,” the source told Bulpett. “I can see them waiting a bit, too. There are some bigs that could become available as other moves get made.”
Besides his experience with other Celtics players and personnel, Baynes also has previous experience with Udoka, as he played for the San Antonio Spurs from 2013 to 2015 while Udoka was an assistant to head coach Gregg Popovich.
Baynes’ Last Year in the NBA
After spending the previous season with the Phoenix Suns, Baynes was signed by the Toronto Raptors during the 2020 offseason to a two-year deal with the second year being a team option.
In his lone year with the Raptors, Baynes averaged 6.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 53 games in which he played 18.5 minutes a game.
The Raptors ultimately did not believe Baynes was worth keeping around, waiving him the following offseason. Because of Baynes’ unfortunate spinal injury during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, he went unsigned throughout the 2021-22 season.
Baynes has recovered enough from the injury to host a workout for NBA teams again. Even if he is as physically capable of playing in the NBA as he was the last time he played, interested suitors must keep in mind that he will turn 36 in December.
There’s no telling how much fuel he’ll have left in the tank.
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