Five Celtics Alumni Named Among 15 Best Remaining NBA Free Agents

Marc Stein mentioned some pretty relevant former Celtics.

Oshae Brissett / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

The 2024-25 NBA Season is about to start, and plenty of notable players are still available in free agency. Some of those players include former Boston Celtics.

NBA Insider Marc Stein named the 15 best players still available as free agents in an October 6 story. He ranked them in alphabetical order and not in terms of quality as a player overall. Five former Celtics were named in Stein's piece.

The five mentioned were Oshae Brissett, Jae Crowder, Danilo Gallinari, Marcus Morris Sr., and Isaiah Thomas (Disclaimer: Morris was on the New York Knicks, but they waived him to complete the Karl-Anthony Towns trade).

Could the Celtics reunite with any of these players? Well, even after opting out of his contract, Brissett hinted on his personal Vlog over the offseason that he hadn't completely ruled out returning to Boston, which would require mutual interest on their part for a reunion to happen.

With the others, it doesn't appear as likely. For sentimental reasons, plenty have pushed for the Celtics to bring Isaiah Thomas back for a while now knowing how much he did in the little time he played for Boston. However, that's a fan-driven campaign since the Celtics have had multiple opportunities to bring him back and have passed each time.

Like Thomas, Morris and Crowder both played pivotal roles in previous Celtics' playoff runs once upon a time, but that over half a decade ago. Both are now fighting just to stay in the show. Gallinari is too, but he doesn't have the history that any of the previous four players mentioned do with the Celtics.

The Celtics mostly kept most of last season's roster and then added Lonnie Walker on a training camp deal, and there's significant doubt that he will make the opening night roster. The Celtics are making every roster spot count, right down to their last one.

If the Celtics reunite with any of these aforementioned players, rest assured it would be for more reasons than their history with the team.