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Report: Celtics draftee Abdel Nader to sign with D-League

Texas v Iowa State

AMES, IA - FEBRUARY 13: Jameel McKay #1 of the Iowa State Cyclones celebrates with teammate Abdel Nader #2 of the Iowa State Cyclones at mid court in the final minutes of play. The Iowa State Cyclones won 85-75 over the Texas Longhorns at Hilton Coliseum on February 13, 2016 in Ames, Iowa. The Iowa State Cyclones won 85-75 over the Texas Longhorns. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)

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Abdel Nader faced a dilemma.

Reading between the lines, Nader – whom the Celtics drafted No. 58 and then impressed at summer league – had two choices:


  • Reject Boston’s required tender (a one-year contract, surely unguaranteed at the minimum, a team must extend to keep a players draft rights) and join the D-League. It seemed Nader pledged to go this route contingent on the Celtics drafting him, allowing them to keep his rights another year.
  • Accept Boston’s required tender. He would’ve gone to training camp, almost definitely gotten waived and then become a free agent. He still could’ve gone to the D-League, but the Celtics no longer would’ve held exclusive negotiating rights.

Nader apparently chose the former.

Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports:

Nader’s mistake was agreeing to this arrangement in the first place. It allowed the Celtics to hold undue power over his career in exchange for… what? The honor of being drafted? Professional sports leagues have so successfully marketed the draft, labor celebrates this anti-labor system. It’s absurd.

Yet, if Nader promised to do something, he promised to do it. Should it matter that he later realized he shouldn’t have made the promise? His word matters, too.

I don’t envy Nader’s situation. The only hope is that fewer players put themselves in it in the future.