Jabari Parker Celtics debut: New forward will be in uniform Saturday vs. Golden State

Jabari Parker is healthy and will dress for the Celtics, Saturday night vs. the Golden State Warriors.

“He’s healthy,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said on his pregame media video conference. “He’ll dress tonight.”

Parker, the former No. 2 overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft, who was cut by the Sacramento Kings last month, signed a two-year deal with Boston Friday. He’ll wear No. 20, Ray Allen’s old number, and will probably compete with Semi Ojeleye and Grant Williams for minutes Saturday.

Stevens said the length of the contract indicated this was more than a short tryout for the 26-year-old former Duke star, who has played just nine games since the start of the 2019-20 season.

“Jabari’s been a good player in the league for a few years now. He’s obviously had a rough couple of last stops,” Stevens said. “As you saw by the details that came out, this is a plan beyond this year. We’re going to be patient bringing him along.

“Hopefully this is a play where he can find his groove,” Stevens later added. “That’s important. We’re going to work hard to help him.”

Stevens said the Celtics’ initial plan for Parker, who has averaged 14.8 points per game over parts of seven injury-hampered NBA seasons, is to be mostly a four, with some minutes at the five.

“We’re going to be mostly looking at him as a guy that can play some four for us but maybe some small-ball five in some lineups especially around some of our better players, as a ball-mover, as a passer, as a playmaker, as a drive, as a guy that can put the ball in the basket, that’s a real threat to put the ball in the basket,” Stevens said. There will be some size challenges with that. It hasn’t always been the case this year, but right now we can put a pretty versatile long group on the floor. We’ll have more options going forward depending on who we’re playing this year and also next year. We thought that was a really good place for our team.”

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