The Boston Celtics will begin the season with Al Horford coming off the bench.

Horford has never previously come off the bench during his time with the Celtics and only came off the bench sparingly in his one season with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Horford, however, will be limited in back-to-backs and bringing him off the bench allows the Celtics to keep their regular starting lineup less disrupted. The Celtics acquired Jrue Holiday before the start of the training camp, which changed their starting lineup plans.

Marcus Smart knew it was likely that the Boston Celtics would trade him at some point. But Smart said that didn't really take the sting out of actually being traded.

“If I’m being quite frank, I knew I would be traded eventually,” Smart said. “Just figured it would be the next season, just based off my contract and with the new CBA. We already knew that. But it was just the way it happened. I was told everything was good after asking multiple times. Like, ‘I’m hearing (rumors), what’s going on?’ And they’re like, ‘No, you’re good, you’re good, you’re good.’ And then when I do hear about the trade, it’s from Shams (Charania) on Twitter before I hear from the team.”

Now, Smart is ready for a fresh start with the Memphis Grizzlies.

“You always want to be where you’re wanted, and another team’s trash is another team’s gold. So I’m glad to be here,” Smart said. “I’m glad to be on an organization that wants me and sees me (have) great value. So I’m ecstatic and I’m ready to get going.”

The Boston Celtics have signed forward/center Nathan Knight to a two-way contract. 

Knight (6-10, 253) has appeared in 108 career games (two starts) with the Atlanta Hawks (2020-21) and Minnesota Timberwolves (2022-23). He owns career averages of 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per game while shooting 47.6 percent from the field.

The Syracuse, NY native was a three-time Lou Henson Mid-Major All-American (2018, 2019, 2020) during his four-year colligate career at William & Mary, where he averaged 17.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 125 games. 

In a corresponding roster move the Celtics have waived guard Jay Scrubb.

The Boston Celtics signed James Banks III to an Exhibit 10 deal, sources told Keith Smith of Spotrac.

The team also signed-and-waived Reginald Kissoonlal, and waived D.J. Steward.

All three players are expected to join the Maine Celtics in the G League.

Derrick White and the Boston Celtics have been talking about a contract extension. Talks are ongoing, but nothing appears to be on the immediate horizon. Both sides have an October 23 deadline to reach an agreement on extending White's deal.

White has two seasons left on his current contract. He's due to be paid $18.4 million for this season, and $19.6 million for next season. Because the 6-foot-4 guard has two seasons left on his deal, he can only be extended through the end of the offseason. White will again become eligible to extend this coming offseason. With just one year remaining on his deal. White would be able to extend through June 30, 2025.

White has been a key contributor since Boston acquired him at the 2022 trade deadline. His role is increasing this season, after the Celtics traded Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon this past offseason.

The Boston Celtics have hired Jeff Van Gundry as a senior consultant. It's expected that Van Gundy will work with both the coaching staff and the front office in his role. In addition, he'll work with the Maine Celtics of the G League. Van Gundy will not have an active role day-to-day on the Celtics bench as a part of the coaching staff.

Van Gundy was a head coach in the NBA for 11 seasons, spending seven years with the New York Knicks and four with the Houston Rockets. The veteran coach had one losing record in those 11 years. Van Gundy helped lead the Knicks to the 1999 NBA Finals.

For the last 16 seasons, Van Gundy has worked as a broadcaster for ESPN. He also coached Team USA in 2017, and helped lead the team to a 2019 FIBA World Cup berth.

Jay Scrubb suffered a torn right ACL at practice on Saturday. Scrubb is signed to a two-way contract with the Boston Celtics for the upcoming season.

Scrubb spent last season on a two-way deal with the Orlando Magic. He previously played two years on two-way deals with the LA Clippers.

The Boston Celtics and Payton Pritchard have agreed to a four-year, $30 million contract extension. Pritchard is in the final season of the first-round rookie scale deal he signed after being the 26th pick at the 2020 NBA Draft.

Pritchard was a rotation regular in the first two years of his career, before being in and out of the rotation last season. This season, Boston is counting on the 6-foot-1 guard to be their primary backup point guard. For his career, Pritchard has averaged 6.6 points per game on 40% three-point shooting.

Host Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux), Jared Weiss of The Athletic (@JaredWeissNBA) and Jared Dubin of This Night in Basketball (@JADubin5) go in-depth on the NBA’s Atlantic Division.

They discuss how the Celtics, 76ers, Knicks, Nets and Raptors fared in the off-season and predict the season to come, including projected finish, breakout players and rookies they are most excited to see.

Subscribe to RealGM Radio on Apple Podcasts or via the RSS feed. 

The Boston Celtics waived Kylor Kelley, reported Keith Smith of Spotrac.

Kelley, who signed an Exhibit 10 contract, will likely join the Maine Celtics.