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It appears that the Celtics are working on some roster moves to accommodate the recent trade with the Cavs as well as filling out a full roster for training camp (including signing Evan Turner).
First they had too many players, so one of the formerly non-guaranteed guys (Christian Watford) got cut.
Source says Celtics have waived Christian Watford to formally drop to league max of 20 players following Cleveland deal.
— Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) September 26, 2014
The Celtics waived Christian Watford yesterday, which makes sense - can't make a trade that puts roster over 20 in offsesason
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) September 26, 2014
Now, almost like magic, Christian Watford is back with the Celtics.
The Boston Celtics have agreed on a new training camp deal to re-sign forward Christian Watford on Monday, league sources tell RealGM.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 27, 2014
This was puzzling to me until I did the simple math.
Work with me here. There's a 20 man limit to camp rosters. At the time of the trade the Celtics had 18 under contract. They sent out Bogans and took back 4 players. In order to get under the 20 limit, they had to waive Watford.
Once the deal was completed, they could waive newly acquired Thomas and John Lucas III. That brought the camp roster down to 18. Now they've re-signed Watford and still have one spot open for Evan Turner to officially sign before training camp opens.
Glad I cleared that up for myself as it would have bugged me. Hope this helps anyone else puzzled by it.