When the Boston Celtics consider their strongest current foes in the Eastern Conference, the New York Knicks have to be at the top of the list. Boston’s playoff loss to the Knicks last season was made even more dire with Jayson Tatum tearing his Achilles at Madison Square Garden. The Jalen Brunson-led Knicks went on to nearly reach the NBA Finals, and they’ve strengthened their roster this offseason, adding guys like former Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon to the mix.
New York now has a healthy collection of guards, which puts one of their younger ball handlers completely out of contention for playing time in 2025-26. This led one NBA writer, Hardwood Houdini’s Sam LaFrance, to envision a trade idea involving the Celtics.
“New York Knicks guard Tyler Kolek may be a great sleeper trade candidate for Boston,” LaFrance wrote.
“The second-year man out of Marquette seems poised to be buried on New York’s bench for a second straight season, after the Knicks recently added depth with Malcolm Brogdon and Landry Shamet. Does this mean he’ll be available? Maybe not, considering that any extra depth could be nice with Brogdon’s injury history, but there’s a chance that New York would at least take offers on the 24-year-old with the amount of talent they already have at the guard spot.”
“Kolek isn’t the type of player who immediately helps the Celtics get better,” LaFrance continued. “He’d likely spend a fair amount of time up in Maine with the G-League Celts before being ready for NBA minutes. At the same time, he definitely fits into what President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens has been cooking up this offseason.”
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“Kolek is for sure a competitor who seems to have the drive to improve,” LaFrance added. “His pathway to becoming a second-round pick was anything but easy. After playing high school ball in Rhode Island, he started his collegiate career at George Mason. He then transferred to Marquette for his final three seasons and got better each year. Kolek eventually won Big East Player of the Year in the 2022-23 campaign and was named an All-American in his senior season.”
While LaFrance’s trade idea is original and unexpected, it doesn’t make a ton of sense for Boston from a basketball fit standpoint. Stevens loves big guards who can defend. Payton Pritchard is somewhat of an exception to that rule at just 6-foot-1, but then again, Pritchard is a far superior player to Kolek defensively, and that’s saying nothing about Pritchard’s elite offensive skill set.
Kolek is an intriguing prospect, but he’s not an elite three-point shooter, which will be a huge issue for the former Marquette star if he can’t improve his stroke. It’s also what makes Kolek a poor fit for Joe Mazzulla’s three-point-heavy approach to offense.
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