It appears the Boston Celtics are looking to package two of its players to bring in a piece prior to Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reported Wednesday that the Celtics are shopping the combined value of Payton Pritchard and Danilo Gallinari. Their salaries together end up matching those of two players on the trade market — San Antonio Spurs big man Jakob Poeltl and Orlando Magic center Mo Bamba — who both have already been linked to the Celtics
The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor gave more credence to Fischer’s report by confirming it and added that the Celtics prefer to land one of those players over the other.
“The Celtics have been exploring offers with those two combined salaries of Pritchard and Gallinari,” O’Connor told NBC Sports Boston. “My understanding is that Poeltl is the priority for Boston. Bamba would be more of a decent backup plan.”
The Celtics, who own the league’s best record and are seen as NBA title favorites, don’t have any glaring weaknesses, but could use big man depth. Poeltl would certainly help with that especially with Al Horford having logged plenty of miles throughout his 16-year career while an injury always seems to be lurking around the corner for Robert Williams.
And if Horford or Williams are sidelined for whatever reason — or if they are both out of action like they were Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers — Poeltl would be valuable insurance.
The 7-foot-1, 245-pound Poeltl, who is an unrestricted free agent after the season, is averaging 12.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.2 blocks per game on the campaign and has a skill set that would help him fit in well with the Celtics.
“If you don’t have Horford, or you don’t have Robert Williams, Poeltl can fill either of those roles because he’s a good playmaker. Can do a little bit of a Horford thing,” O’Connor said. “He’s also a really good rim-protector. So, he could do some of the Time Lord stuff as well. He makes perfect sense as a Celtics target. Whether, he’s a rental or a long-term re-signing, Boston’s interest in Poeltl is definitely for real.”
