APRIL 17: The signing is official, according to a team press release.
APRIL 16: The Celtics are signing free agent forward Jabari Parker and waiving Moritz Wagner, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links). Parker will sign a two-year deal with Boston, Charania adds.
Parker has been looking for a new NBA home since the Kings waived him late last month. Parker had a $6.5MM expiring contract that Sacramento was unable to deal.
The second overall pick of the 2014 draft only appeared in three games with the Kings this season, due to a back injury, personal reasons, and being placed under the league’s health and safety protocols. Even when he was available, Parker wasn’t a regular part of Sacramento’s rotation.
Sacramento was Parker’s fifth NBA stop. He was included a trade deadline swap with Atlanta last February. Parker averaged 15.0 PPG in 32 games with the Hawks but only played six games with Sacramento last season.
Wagner was thrown into a three-team swap involving the Wizards, Celtics and Bulls at the trade deadline. He played nine games with Boston but only averaged 6.8 MPG in those appearances. Wagner, who was a first-round pick by the Lakers in 2018, has an expiring $2.16MM contract.
Having a walking bucket like Parker on the bench isn’t going to hurt. Celtics bench is brutal. It won’t help much either though. On another not Wagner got beaten out by Luke Kornet? I am sure he has had better days in his life.
What’s embarrassing about signing Parker? He averaged about 15 a game in Atlanta last season before getting traded.
You gotta give it a few minutes young buck. There’s an edit button.
I also thought kornet was the throw in in that trade. Guess kornet was the prize of the trade lol
Yeah Parker really only makes sense for a team with a bench as atrocious as Boston’s
If he can’t find a role there he should brush up on his mandarin
Parker looks so heavy. Almost like he doesn’t care about his career
Oh, he doesn’t.
To me, he seems like one of those guys that only played hoops for the money. Once the pro money arrived, the effort just stopped. Injuries played a part for sure, but I have not seen that much effort from him as a pro, especially recently.
Literally describes 98% of pro athletes
Totally not true. There are lots of pro athletes that put in a lot of effort. It’s true there are some that get lazy, but I don’t think it is anywhere close to 98%. If you think it is that high, then why do watch sports? I know I wouldn’t.
Not sure I’d label football in that category. If you get lazy in that sport, you either get cut or injured.
It’s actually a testament to his talent that he’s somehow still in the league
I like it sort of. Boston’s bench is brutal. Parker doesn’t help at all on defence but he can be a nice piece off the bench.
I like Jabari he’s underrated. Solid signing Wagner will likely go to another team
Wagner is decent, he will get picked up. Parker is a complete liability on defense, but he can score.
Wagner sucks. One of the few misses from magic and rob. Not a good defender and not that good of shooter, there’s a reason both lakers and Washington dumped him.
Parker is an interesting player – high draft pick, and when you glance at his stats it almost seems like he might be good. Or at least better than a guy who seems to bounce to a new team every 18 months.
But his counting stats hide the fact he can’t shoot the 3 and offers literally nothing besides iso mid-range slop (which to be fair he’s good at).
Having said that he can’t be worse than Grant Williams.
he shot 37% from 3 from 2016-2018 but other than that has been terrible from beyond the arc. I get that people say he has effort issues and what not… but usually a guy can either shoot or he can’t… it just seems really weird that he could shoot for 2 seasons and then can’t anymore. Am curious which is the real deal… can’t he shoot 38% or is he going to revert to 28%!?! lol. either way he’s a solid pickup for a Celtics team that can desperately use the offense off the bench.
Yeah that is odd. A guy doesn’t usually have 2 fluke seasons shooting the 3. Then again he did only play 50 gms in 16-17 and then 30 in 17-18, so maybe that explains some of it.
Definitely odd tho. Cause if he could shoot 3’s he’d probably have a job and consistent PT for the near future, regardless of how little cares about D.
His strength is handling, but like with many bigs who can handl e… bigs handling does not help the team win even if it looks impressive. Boston I think wanted him to rebound, so that is what he did, well. He has probably been told to not hang around the perimeter so much so his shot declined. He wasn’t that tough before and got waived just before the ABC game.
The only reason to pick up Wagner would be to look at him over the remaining games of the season to see if he’s worth signing in free agency. He was released after the deadline to be eligible for the playoffs.
Don’t see why Jabari can’t be the next Livingston. That solid rotation guy. Who gives you big mins. Even if it’s only 20-24 a gm.
That was an abrupt change for both Wagner and BOS. Wagner had been improving in his two previous stops, and BOS switching him for a selfish type. Someone seems to have wanted more forcefulness.
Just seems early for Ainge to give up on someone.
Two Berlin-born boom (Theis to Bulls).
Boston badly needs bench scoring.
Wagner was fifth on the center depth chart.
So, this seems like a prudent move.
Coach Stevens has been good at getting the best out of players others could not. Turner, Crawford, Crowder….
Brad Stevens hasn’t been good at much of anything for quite some time now. Let’s be honest about this. Boston is among the most underachieving teams in the league this year. Everybody wants to treat Brad Stevens like he is some kind of wonder boy. Fact remains ….. He has NEVER won anything. Nothing!
This will be Jabari’s last stop in the NBA before becoming a footnote in basketball history. This appears to be Jabari’s agent calling in a favor. NOBODY else had any interest whatsoever in Jabari. He quit working and NEVER played any defense. He thought it was cool to say he didn’t play defense. He should be embarrassed. He never recovered from Giannis coming to Milwaukee and replacing him as the face of the franchise. He never recovered from that.
Who hurt you?
Losing Horford lol . Obviously
Obviously its past the playoff date, butt I could still see the Heat interested in Aagner, among other teams…he brings a facsimile to what they lost with Olynyk
Boston has a lot of 4s, but besides tatum, Jabari is the only other guy there that can give them offense, unless you played really small with Jalen Brown there, which is unlikely unless Tatum were injured or something. A good defense around Parker, if he is healthy, and he is very useful, especially offensively in half court situations…wouldnt have minded him on the Heat 2 years ago…
Rofl at the typo
Olynyk is MUCH better than Wagner, And Bjelica for that matter. He is a very solid player.
Olynyk is better. Didnt say he wasnt. Wagner has shown a similar skillset previously, and relatively similar rate stats, obviously before he was with Boston
I know you didn’t, I just always thought he was a tad underappreciated when he played for the Heat. They just had him stand in the corner jacking up threes. He has a nice all-around game and is a very intelligent player.
They ran offense through him a lot since he was here, with dribble handoffs, but he was better off as a 5 for them, in my opinion, while he did still complement Bam. He was extremely important in the playoffs last year. I could actually see them offering him their midlevel in the offseason, but I assume they try to fill that spot with another similar option. Definitely was interested to see him go elsewhere and show off his skills that we know he has, especially as he was allowed to develop some of that a little more here, as he talked about a couple of years ago. The Heat like to develop guys and let them go elsewhere and show off what they know they can do, as they’re usually sacrificing at least some of that on this teak, trying to win
People talk about Boston’s poor bench. There are usually two of Tatum, Brown, Walker, and Smart monopolizing the ball when bench players are in. There is a lot of standing and watching. Boston is at its best when they pass the ball. Grant Williams is shooting 40% on threes, but seldom gets to take them.
He put on a good show tonight in his debut , hope he can keep it up ..