Marquis Daniels, his agent and the Boston Celtics have had preliminary buyout discussions. (CSNNE)

His agent Mark Bartelstein tells CSNNE.com that there have been preliminary discussions about buying out Daniels’ contract.

“He loves it in Boston and would love to be back in the regular playing rotation,” Bartelstein said. “But if that can’t happen, then we may look and see if there’s a better situation, playing-wise, for Marquis.”

Daniels began the year as Paul Pierce’s primary backup, but quickly fell out of Doc Rivers’ favor as he missed a slew of easy shots in the early season. When Mickael Pietrus joined the Celtics, Avery Bradley proved himself as a legitimate contributor and Keyon Dooling returned from injury, Daniels dropped out of the rotation.

One night early in Daniels’ benching, Sasha Pavlovic played 10 or so minutes while Daniels kept his warmup suit on for the entire game. I tweeted something about how Daniels must be upset that Pavlovic played and he didn’t. Daniels tweeted back, “#BeleeDat.”

This is the third time Daniels has fallen out of the rotation during three seasons with the Celtics. In year one, Tony Allen seized the minutes by beginning to play with more poise. In year two, Daniels had that scary injury and finished the year recovering from spinal cord surgery. In year three, Pietrus, Bradley, Dooling and even sometimes Pavlovic have taken his playing time.

Remember, Daniels started 43 of the 54 games in which he appeared during his final season with Indiana. His 12.3 minutes per game average this season is easily the lowest of his career. I’m not saying he necessarily deserves more minutes — Daniels’ play did nothing to set him apart from the rest of Boston’s backup wings. But I am saying I understand why he would want a bigger role, if he can find one.