Marquis Daniels will play next season

According to CNNSE.com’s A. Sherrod Blakely, free agent swingman Marquis Daniels, who missed the second half of last season after suffering a spinal cord injury in a February game, will be healthy and ready to play next season for any team willing to have him aboard. Here’s the story:

The last time Boston Celtics fans saw Marquis Daniels on a basketball floor, the versatile wingman had to be carried out of the TD Garden on a stretcher after suffering a bruised spinal cord.

Daniels’ fans, as well as the Celtics, didn’t know if he would ever play again.

He isn’t totally back to full strength, but he’s now at a point where his agent, Mark Bartelstein, tells CSNNE.com that Daniels will “definitely” be able to play next season.

And it’s not totally out of the question that the 6-foot-6 forward could return to Boston, either.

“When the time comes, he’s going to look at and explore all his options,” Bartelstein said. “But Boston is certainly a team he knows well, has a great amount of respect for and really enjoyed his time there.”

When healthy, the 30-year old Daniels is almost the definition of a solid, replacement-level swingman. He’s not much of a shooter, and he doesn’t have elite athleticism, but he plays with good energy, can defend multiple positions, and can always be trusted with some rotation minutes. Daniels averaged 5.5 points on 49% shooting in 19 minutes per game with the Celtics last season, and has averaged 8.6 points in 22.5 minutes per game over the course of his career. With a new CBA coming and Daniels’ scary injury history, he’s unlikely to get a big payday this off-season, but he’s a solid player who should be able to find work somewhere in the NBA.