Courtney Lee says more than 8 teams interested in him

Everything you hear from players, agents and teams right now should be taken with a grain of salt.

But it’s been clear for a while that Courtney Lee — the swingman who is a good perimeter defender — was drawing a lot of interest. But he tells A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com a number that is even higher than we expected.

Lee said “more than eight teams” are in the hunt with the Celtics.

So who is in the lead? Well, Boston is in the mix, looking for someone to cover Avery Bradley, who will miss the start of the season. The Pacers are interested as well. But as always it comes down to money. Lee wants a multi-year deal and at more than the $2.2 million he made last year. But if that doesn’t work out…

“Dallas is a team, they’re looking to make one-year deals even if they have to overpay somebody so that they have enough cap space for the next year’s free agency,” Lee said. “That’s something that if me and my agent, if we can’t come to an agreement on a multi-year deal, that’s something that we’ll have to look into.”

Look for Lee to have a deal in the next couple days, although he can be patient if he wants to see what else shakes out.