The Boston Celtics’ options before the NBA trade deadline are being narrowed down for them, it appears.
Guard Lou Williams has agreed to terms with the Los Angeles Clippers on a three-year contract extension, Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports reported Wednesday, citing league sources. Per Charania, the extension solidifies Williams’ future in L.A., where he’s enjoying a career season and has found “tremendous comfort.”
Translation: Williams is off the market.
The Celtics reportedly were among Williams’ suitors, one of a few asset-laden teams capable of presenting the Clippers with an enticing trade package. And while Williams’ extension could be mostly about him wanting to stay in L.A., it also implies a team like Boston declined to make the Clips an offer they couldn’t refuse.
That logic would make sense in light of a recent Boston Herald report that the C’s would be unwilling to part with Marcus Smart — whose name has popped up in trade rumors — in a one-for-one deal for either Williams or Memphis Grizzlies forward Tyreke Evans.
Yet crossing Williams off the trade target list could shift the focus toward Evans, a veteran reportedly also garnering interest from the Celtics. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday that the pursuit of Evans should “intensify” with Williams now out of the picture, and that the C’s, rumored to a be “frontrunner” for the 28-year-old, still are in the mix.
Memphis is seeking a first-round pick in exchange for Evans, though, per Wojnarowski, and it’s unclear whether Boston president of baskeball operations Danny Ainge would part with such an asset given the Herald’s report that he won’t trade Smart for a one-year rental.
Plenty can change over the next 24 hours, but Williams staying put increases the likelihood of the Celtics doing just the same ahead of Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline.
