The bottom line is this: The Celtics and team president Brad Stevens value flexibility heading into the trade deadline, and saving a little money, over Jabari Parker.
The Celtics will waive Parker before midnight Monday, a story broken by Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The Boston Celtics are planning to waive forward Jabari Parker, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Celtics maintain roster flexibility with an open roster spot ahead of roster guarantee date. Parker showed scoring ability over the past season in Boston.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 7, 2022
Cap/tax hit for the Boston Celtics for Jabari Parker will be $1,068,293, assuming he is not claimed off waivers.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) January 7, 2022
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Parker has played a very limited role for Boston, getting into 12 games and averaging 4.4 points a contest in those. That despite the roster shakeups due to COVID. This makes Parker a free agent.
The move saves the Celtics a little over $1 million right now, although that could change depending on what they do with the open roster spot.
The struggling Celtics need to make changes. Sources around the league tell NBC Sports the Celtics are not looking to trade Jaylen Brown; instead, they want to build around him and Jayson Tatum. What that could mean at the trade deadline is impossible to predict, but now Stevens has a little more flexibility to work with.
