There’s a tendency to believe that the date that defined the Celtics season was Feb. 24, 2011 when team president Danny Ainge traded Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. While certainly a red-letter date in recent team history, the day everything was set in motion was actually two and a half weeks earlier.

On Feb. 6 before a nationally-televised Sunday afternoon audience against the Magic, Marquis Daniels collapsed on the Garden court, suffering a bruised spinal cord. He drove baseline on Gilbert Arenas and then went down without much, if any, contact. Daniels’ condition – spinal stenosis -- had been a closely-guarded secret within the team and they knew they were walking a thin line because Daniels was the only backup wing player that coach Doc Rivers trusted.

“It puts us in a terrible spot,” Rivers said a few days after the injury. “Going into the year, that was the area of concern because we knew we were one injury away from being very thin and unfortunately it happened."

Up to that point things had been rolling right along for the Celtics. They were 38-12 after securing a win against Orlando that day and while there were the usual assortment of injuries to supporting players like Delonte West and the O’Neals, they had absorbed the hits mainly because of the steady hand of players like Daniels.

When West broke his wrist in late November, Daniels assumed the role of backup to both Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. When Robinson struggled as the primary point guard, Daniels did a little bit of that as well.

It was never about the traditional numbers with Daniels during his tenure with the Celtics. That’s not the same thing as saying he couldn’t get the numbers – he averaged 13.6 points and 4.6 rebounds as a starter with the Pacers the year before he came to Boston – but on this team Daniels played his role. 

He averaged only 5.5 points a game in his season and a half with the Celtics, but a closer look revealed a player who could pick his spots offensively and deliver the necessary defense when he was on the floor. His ability to play individual and team defense against high-scoring wing players was sorely missed in their playoff series with the Heat.

Daniels performed his job in a laconic manner that sometimes made it seem like he was coasting, but he was able to play at different speeds and he used that to his advantage, much like Paul Pierce does so effectively. One year after playing through a series of injuries Daniels had become a very important, and reliable, piece of the puzzle.

There was a sense before his injury that if they could hold on a little while longer until West and the injured centers came back then they were in decent shape for a playoff push. “I like our team and I think this is probably the team that we’ll be with by the time the season ends,” Ainge said on WEEI in late January.

Without Daniels, the Celtics knew they had to enter the trade market. They could have done something smaller than trading Perkins, but with his contract status up in the air and a need to fill several holes Ainge went for the home run in trading for Green and Krstic. Daniels, in turn, provided one last service for the Celtics. He allowed a trade to go through without invoking his early-Bird rights that sent him to Sacramento for the purpose of opening a roster spot and helping the Kings reach the salary cap floor.

It seemed likely that small bit of selflessness would be his last act with the team. But Daniels had surgery in March and never gave up on his goal of making it back to the NBA. He has begun working out and his agent Mark Bartelstein raised the possibility of Daniels returning to Boston to continue his career with the Celtics.

Considering the team’s salary cap situation and the need to sign as many as eight players once the lockout is lifted – if it’s lifted, of course – a Daniels return makes a lot of sense. If his health checks out and Daniels is able to provide what he has in the past that would help fill one of their biggest needs on the wing. (The other being big men behind Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal and big men are always more costly.)

At the moment the Celtics have six players under contract. First round draft pick JaJuan Johnson makes seven. They tendered an offer to Jeff Green making him a restricted free agent and West’s agent has indicated that he wants to return.

Second round pick E’Twaun Moore may play in Europe and undrafted free agent Gilbert Brown is already signed overseas with an opt out to return to the states, presumably to sign with the Celtics. That’s 11, maybe 10, players who seem likely at this uncertain point to be part of the Celtics next season. In other words, there is room to take at least one calculated risk – all the better if that risk is cost-efficient and has a track record like Daniels.

Beyond the obvious injury risk, there could be some downside if Green and West re-sign as expected and take most of the backup minutes behind Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Somebody would be left out of the minutes’ equation. But as the Celtics have learned painfully over the last three years, they can never have enough depth.

Also, Rivers and Ainge seem determined to not have to rely on Allen and Pierce playing 36 minutes a night, every night. Daniels’ hallmark with the Celtics has been his versatility, another area that was lacking in the playoffs. A bench core of West, Daniels and Green would all have the ability to play multiple positions. The minutes generally wind up taking care of themselves.

It seemed impossible on that somber February afternoon that we would even be entertaining the idea of Daniels being back in the NBA at all – let alone with the Celtics. But here we are and if the league is able to figure outs its labor situation, a Daniels return would be something the Celtics should seriously consider.