The Celtics have signed veteran forward Blake Griffin to a one-year, fully guaranteed contract, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The 33-year-old Griffin spent last season with the Nets, where he averaged career lows in points (6.4), rebounds (4.1), field goal attempts (5.6) and minutes per game (17.1). It was the first year of Griffin’s career in which he averaged less than double-digit points per game.
The signing of Griffin comes as Boston searches for frontcourt depth entering the new basketball season. Danilo Gallinari, who was expected to play a major role off the Celtics’ bench this season, tore his ACL at the FIBA World Cup Qualifying and will miss the season.
Meanwhile, starting center Robert Williams will miss the first couple months of the season after having a second knee surgery to address a meniscus injury that he suffered in the spring.
Williams had his meniscus trimmed towards the end of the regular season, and returned to play limited minutes in the playoffs as the Celtics made the NBA Finals. His second surgery was to address lingering soreness in his knee.
Boston has reportedly been giving veteran Luke Kornet a look in camp with the starting five in the wake of Williams’s absence, but Boston is thin behind him with the injuries in the frontcourt. In addition, news broke shortly after the reported Griffin signing that Kornet suffered a minor ankle sprain in practice this week and will miss one-to-two weeks, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
While Griffin is certainly not the high-flying athletic player he once was, he can still provide offense for Boston as a stretch four off the bench. It is harder to predict Griffin’s fit defensively in the Celtics’ switch-heavy scheme, as his defense has been a net negative as he progresses to the late stages of his career.
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