FEBRUARY 8: Now that the trade deadline has passed without the Celtics needing to use their open roster spot, the team has made Monroe’s signing official.
FEBRUARY 2: Veteran center Greg Monroe will sign with the Celtics after he becomes a free agent this weekend, a league source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Monroe, bought out and waived by the Suns on Thursday, is on track to clear waivers on Saturday.
[RELATED: Suns buy out Greg Monroe]
The Celtics and Pelicans were believed to be the frontrunners for Monroe, a New Orleans native. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the Pels offered Monroe the opportunity to be their starting center, but the big man will instead head to Boston, where he’ll have fewer guaranteed minutes, but a better chance to win a title.
Monroe will also be well compensated on his new deal with the Celtics, as Wojnarowski tweets that the one-year contract will be worth $5MM. That’s more than the Pelicans could offer, with Boston taking advantage of its extra flexibility by using its disabled player exception to reach an agreement with Monroe.
Even though the Celtics’ disabled player exception – awarded after Gordon Hayward went down in the team’s season opener – is worth $8.4MM, the DPE can only be used once, so the team won’t have the remaining $3.4MM available. Still, Boston plans to continue exploring the market for a perimeter scorer, according to Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports, who cautions (via Twitter) that the front office is reluctant to part with a first-round pick.
Monroe, who opened the season in Milwaukee, was sent to the Suns in the fall for salary-matching purposes as part of the Bucks’ trade for Eric Bledsoe. The 27-year-old saw inconsistent minutes in Phoenix as he battled fellow centers Tyson Chandler and Alex Len for playing time.
Although Monroe has had his role reduced and has only appeared in 25 games this year, he has continued to be very effective on a per-minute basis, averaging 10.4 PPG and 7.4 RPG with a .601 FG% in 21.8 minutes per contest. He’ll join a Celtics frontcourt that could use some interior scoring and rebounding help. Outside of Al Horford, no one on Boston’s roster is averaging more than 5.5 RPG this season.
The Celtics are currently carrying 14 players on their roster, so they won’t need to waive anyone to make room for Monroe. However, the move could be bad news for Jarell Eddie, who would have been a candidate to rejoin the C’s if they still had a roster spot available after the trade deadline.
It’s also worth noting that there’s no rule preventing Hayward from returning to the Celtics before season’s end if he’s healthy enough to do so. The NBA initially awarded the C’s their DPE after an independent physician determined that the injured forward was more likely than not to be sidelined through June 15. If Hayward beats that recovery timetable, Boston wouldn’t be penalized at all.
As for the Pelicans, while they’ll be disappointed to miss out on Monroe, they did add another frontcourt piece on Thursday, acquiring Nikola Mirotic from the Bulls. New Orleans also still has two open roster spots, so the club figures to keep an eye out for more reinforcements on the trade market or buyout market.
Yusssss
Good, now rozier won’t lead the team in rebounds lol
Good for him. He didn’t make the playoffs with Detroit. He didn’t fit the way he thought he would in Milwaukee and took it like a pro. Get into the finals maybe or at least a strong playoff push
GREAT “if” they make the finals they will probably win 1 game now.
can the Pelicans just claim him, instead of waiting for him to be a free agent? Not sure about how this works on the NBA
In order to claim him, they’d need to have enough cap room or a big enough trade exception (or disabled player exception) to accommodate his previous salary. He was making nearly $18MM, so that’s not realistic in this case.
So he’s actually waived instead of brought out?
Yeah, all players who agree to a buyout are technically waived. They just agree to give up a part of their salary as part of the buyout.
So if they can’t use the rest if the exception for another player how can they afford it and doesn’t this put them at max players at 15?
Not sure I understand the question. Are you referring to the Celtics? They had an $8.4MM disabled player exception and an open roster spot before signing Monroe. They’ll use both to sign him after he clears waivers, and then will have a full roster and no more disabled player exception.
I like it. I’d like to know his thought process. He chose roughly 20 mns a night over the starting center spot in N.O. He’s already filthy rich so I’d like to think the couple xtra mil the C’s had to offer wasn’t the deciding factor. He’s just a vet that wants to do the playoff thing. I respect that.
He knows he’d be the best big on the Celtics so he would get playing time.
Usually teams are playing just one big guy now and the four man is really the stretch four who shoots outside.
In New Orleans Anthony Davis will play most of the big man minutes. They’ll have more Shooters on the floor because Greg Monroe is no DeMarcus Cousins where you would play two big guys. Very rare in today’s NBA but with those two talented guys they did it.
With Monroe, I don’t think he would get the minutes as a pelican. Good choice for him in Boston. They’ll win and there’s a chance for minutes if he plays well.
Wait, you think that a couple of million for the next few months don’t make a difference? I get the rest of your comment, but absolutely it does. He isnt Lebron James with all his money. I pretty sure this was part of the deciding factor. 2.5 extra mil for the next ) months. Sign me up, rich or not.
I love this. A 2nd big man unit with him, Theis, and Morris could be scary. Monroe probably can even be a starter over time. This is a low-risk, high-reward pick up for the Celtics.
KC are you from Kansas City?
They wanted him before he signed with the bucks so I’m sure they have a game plan in mind for him and with Morris off/on so much this season he is a good get now a a solid back up PG besides Rozier
I wonder whether he would make Baynes expandable.
I wouldn’t trade him he’s been a real rock and that’s what they need down there
Haynes is not expendable. He is needed as a backup.