The Boston Celtics have to sign at least one more player to a standard contract to give them the NBA mandated 14 players on their roster and they do have another two-way contract to offer.

Although Boston has an open roster spot to fill, it’s much easier said than done as the Celtics are very close to the second tax apron and depending how they sign this player, Boston can be hard capped if they were to use the taxpayer MLE, worth $5 million.

The Celtics are currently $4 million away from the second tax apron, which doesn’t give them much to work with when it comes to adding to this team, but there are ways to do it. 

It’s worth mentioning that just because the Celtics are $4 million under the second tax apron and the taxpayer MLE is worth $5 million, the Celtics have to use the full $5 million but they have to be at least $5 million under, which means an additional move would have to be made to use it.

John Karalis, the host of the Locked On Celtics podcast and writer for Boston Sports Journal, went on to explain that the Celtics could part ways with Dalano Banton to get $6 million under to use the $5 million MLE to have more means to sign a player.

A player I think the Celtics should look into signing is veteran free agent TJ Warren.

Warren played half the season between two teams in 2022-23, starting with Brooklyn (26 games) and ending with Phoenix (16 games). He’ll be entering his 30-year-old season with career shooting splits of 50/35/78.

The veteran forward transformed into a two-way player throughout his career, he knows where his spots are on offense and he can hold his own on the defensive end as well.

“Just being a two-way player, locking in on defense. I feel like a lot of people didn’t think I can play defense. I don’t know where that narrative came from, but I’ve been improving on that end as well as being a scorer. Just being aggressive when I’m locked in.”

It’s fair to say Warren might be able to offer Boston more on the court than what re-signing Blake Griffin would do at this point, despite how much of a morale-booster he was for this group last season- a real element this team needed.

Celtics GM Brad Stevens has consistently said this offseason that he wants to add a versatile wing who can be a four-three combo type of player and that’s exactly what Warren is. For his career, he’s logged 98 percent of his minutes from both forward positions.

This roster spot is available after the Celtics waived Justin Champagnie. Karalis mentioned Banton as an option to waive before the season as he’s on a non-guaranteed contract until the first game of the season. Luke Kornet is also non-guaranteed until Jan. 10, which makes him an option as well.

Boston has to make a couple more moves before the start of the season. I imagine Stevens is fielding options and will make his move soon enough.

Adding Warren would be as good as any.

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Photo Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski, USA TODAY Sports