John Wall is on the trade block. Should the Boston Celtics put in a call?
The Houston Rockets and the veteran point guard reportedly agreed to work together on a potential deal as the team gears their focus towards playing time for their younger guards. With the five-time All-Star set to be on the move, whoever acquires him also will be taking on a massive contract.
Wall’s set to make over $44 million during the 2021-22 season and even more next season with his salary reaching over $47 million for the 2022-23 season before becoming an unrestricted free agent. Any team interested in the guard will have to match salary and certainly shell out a lot — but would it be worth it for Boston?
Some have questioned whether or not a point guard tandem of Marcus Smart and Dennis Schröder could work. But in the grand scheme of things, although Wall has been a great player, a trade may do more harm than good.
One trade that hypothetically could work according to ESPN’s trade machine would have the Celtics sending Al Horford, Josh Richardson and Juancho Hernangomez to Houston in return for the 31-year-old.
While this trade works on paper, the Celtics would have to give up far too many important rotation players for an injury-prone guard who looked good last season, but may not be enough to overcome what would be traded away. The massive contract and commitment beyond this season doesn’t help either.
This deal also would lead to a logjam at the guard position with Wall, Smart and Schröder all still on the team. Neither Smart, nor Schröder are eligible to be included in a deal at the moment due to restrictions based off of the timing of signing their deals. If the Celtics did want to go that route of trading either, Schröder’s restriction lifts Dec. 14, while Smart’s lifts Jan. 20. Then, they could have more flexibility.
While it would look nice to see Wall in a green and white jersey, it just doesn’t seem like the potential price tag would be worth it for the C’s
