BOSTON — Devin Carter flew under the radar in Atlanta. He never ran a play for the Hawks, never logged a minute in a regular-season jersey, and was gone before training camp opened. Now the Boston Celtics want him.
The Celtics have registered interest in Carter, 24, after the Hawks waived him on Friday, according to NBA insider Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. Carter becomes a free agent once he clears the waiver wire — and if he does without a claim, Atlanta remains responsible for his full $5.2 million salary for the 2026-27 season. That unusual financial arrangement makes this a near-zero-risk acquisition for Boston, the kind of calculated move a defending championship contender makes when the math works decisively in its favor.
This is not a rebuilding franchise grasping for roster depth. The Celtics enter training camp as the consensus favorite in the Eastern Conference. Adding Carter — a 6-foot-2 guard with legitimate two-way tools — is a measured bet on an ascending talent who fell into organizational limbo through no fault of his own. As teams across the league finalize rosters with camp approaching, Boston is moving faster than its competitors in identifying a low-cost opportunity, as other franchises simultaneously prepare their own pre-camp situations, including preparations around the league.
Atlanta acquired Carter and a 2033 second-round draft pick from Sacramento last June, sending the draft rights to Alpha Kaba, a 30-year-old big man without an active NBA contract, back to the Kings. The transaction was transparent in its purpose: Sacramento needed to shed Carter’s salary to escape the NBA’s punishing second-apron restrictions, and Atlanta recognized an opportunity to collect an asset at no meaningful cost. Carter arrived in Georgia without a defined role, without a clear development pathway, and without realistic minutes given the Hawks’ existing backcourt construction.
What Atlanta chose to do with that arithmetic reveals something worth examining. The Hawks have Trae Young anchoring their offense and a cluster of developing players competing for rotational minutes. There was simply no obvious place for Carter in that system. So the franchise cut him before camp, knowing he would find another home. That home, if Fischer’s reporting holds, will sit in the shadow of the TD Garden.
Carter spent two seasons with Sacramento after the Kings selected him 13th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft out of Providence College. He put together a career-best 2025-26 season with the Kings, averaging 8.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 0.9 steals in 18.4 minutes across 38 appearances. That production understated the defensive tools that made him a lottery pick — his size relative to opposing backcourt players, his lateral quickness in one-on-one coverage, and his developing instincts in passing lanes made him a useful piece in Sacramento’s switching concepts, even as the organization never committed to giving him the extended minutes to demonstrate his full ceiling.
The Celtics open training camp shortly with 14 players on guaranteed contracts and two on two-way deals. Carter, if signed, fills the 15th and final roster spot on a team that does not need much from him. The more meaningful question is how head coach Joe Mazzulla would actually deploy him, and that question has a straightforward answer. Carter’s defensive profile maps directly onto what Boston has constructed over the last three seasons. The Celtics switch aggressively, pressure ball-handlers relentlessly, and rotate with precision off the ball. Carter has the athleticism to operate inside that structure without requiring significant scheme adjustment. On a team where Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown command defensive attention on every possession, Carter would enter a context built to reduce the pressure on his offensive limitations.
The Providence product is 24. He has not yet played in a meaningful role for a playoff team. That developmental runway is part of the bet Boston is reportedly willing to make, an opportunity that aligns with the Celtics’ history of bringing in young wings and guards who can grow within a winning structure, as Yahoo Sports reported Friday when Fischer’s sourcing surfaced.
No other team has been publicly linked to Carter as of Saturday. That will change once he formally clears the waiver wire. A former lottery pick at 24 years old, available at training camp, with another organization covering his salary, will generate interest across the league. Whether Boston acts quickly enough to secure him before that market develops is now the operative question.
The Celtics have not issued a statement. Carter’s representatives have not indicated a public preference. What is confirmed: a September 11 waiver from Atlanta, a championship roster with one open spot, and a front office that has identified a way to add defensive versatility before the season begins without touching the salary sheet.
Carter came to Atlanta through another franchise’s financial necessity. If he reaches Boston, it will be because the Celtics looked at the available circumstances before anyone else did and decided to move.
