The Boston Celtics made some of the more talked-about moves to kick off their 2022 NBA offseason earlier than many teams caught up in the epic staredown games that have become the Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Durant trade sagas. But rather than let the front offices of the Utah Jazz and Brooklyn Nets dictate the terms of how their offseasons might play out, Boston instead got to work making moves few saw coming until they were more or less settled.
That included signing veteran forward Danilo Gallinari to the team’s mini- midlevel exception, and trading veteran big man Daniel Theis, reserve forward Aaron Nesmith, and seldom used deep rotation players plus a draft pick for Indiana Pacers point guard Malcolm Brogdon. Lauded as one of the better offseasons in the NBA, ESPN senior writer Kevin Pelton weighed in on how he thought the Celtics’ offseason has gone.
“Armed only with their taxpayer midlevel exception and a 2023 first-round pick we can safely expect to fall late in the first round, the Celtics managed to add a pair of veteran contributors to last year’s East champions,” observed Pelton.
Celtics Lab 134: Beating back the summer doldrums with Jayson Tatum https://t.co/MJDT85Lhna
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) August 5, 2022