The NBA trade deadline looms closer than you may realize on February 5 (52 days from now). It’ll be interesting to see how Boston Celtics PBO Brad Stevens handles things. There’s an argument for the Celtics to take any/all of the three deadline directions — selling, adding, or staying put.
The reason to stay put is that Boston has been winning games, and they’re expecting Jayson Tatum to come back at the latest by next season. This is a playoff team, and more than that with Tatum involved. Why mess with the chemistry?
The reason to sell would be in line with Stevens’ offseason strategy — cost-cutting. Anfernee Simons and Sam Hauser have been widely discussed as Boston’s two most likely trade chips if and when Stevens wants to make the salary sheet even more thrifty. Simons, in particular, is a guy to watch because his contract is expiring. There’s pretty much no chance the Celtics will re-sign Anfernee after the season; that is, if he makes it through the entire season wearing green.
Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley proposed an interesting Celtics trade on Monday that involved Simons, but it falls short of being one that Boston should consider.
Buckley proposed Simons, Josh Minott, a second-round pick, and a first-round pick for Milwaukee Bucks’ Myles Turner.
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This isn’t a good trade idea for the Celtics, but let’s see what Buckley had to say about his proposal.
“The Celtics are leaving it “all up to” Jayson Tatum when he returns from the Achilles tear he suffered in May, coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters,” Buckley wrote. “Their part of this process, then, should be on providing Tatum with a team capable of high-level competition whenever that happens.”
“If Boston has a sense that Tatum can come back during this campaign, then it has to address its underwhelming mix of centers. Aiming for a prize as rich as Turner would be costly, but having someone who can anchor the defensive interior and improve the offensive spacing is an awfully rich reward.”
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“Especially if the Celtics felt the Eastern Conference was still up for grabs, as they arguably should,” Buckley continued. “The Pistons are a one-star team sitting a good-not-quite-great fifth in efficiency, the Knicks still face questions about the playoff viability of the Karl-Anthony Towns-Jalen Brunson tandem on defense and the Cavaliers have been an injury-riddled mess. Give Boston a healthy Tatum and an impact big man, and maybe it regains control of this conference.”
Turner’s stretch-big talent might fit the Celtics (think Al Horford), but it’s his $25+ million cap hit over the next four seasons that Stevens isn’t going to want to take on. We’re not even sure Stevens would do this trade for Simons and Minott, let alone the draft capital that Buckley threw in there.
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Boston already has two max contracts clunking up its salary situation (Tatum and Brown), and two moderately big deals (Derrick White and Simons) added to that. The Celtics are excited to get off of Simons’ deal next offseason and have a bit more flexibility; this was kind of the design behind signing Simons — a bucket-getter for one season to help with scoring in Tatum’s absence, followed by cap space.
Why would Stevens want to undo that cap space by bringing in a similar contract in Turner?
The above trade proposal also underrates the value — both basketball and contract-wise — of Minott and Neemias Queta. Minott is making under $2.4 million this year and under $2.6 million next year. That is absurdly good value for someone who is playing an important role in Boston’s rotation right now (and will continue to once Tatum returns).
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Queta, meanwhile, is an even bigger bargain, as he’s making almost identical money to Minott but holding down the starting center job for the Celtics, and in many games, thriving in that role.
Turner is awesome, but the Celtics would be foolish to give away such high-value players who are performing well beyond their salary. Those are the kinds of guys that give you the salary space to build loaded, championship rosters. Payton Pritchard is another one.
Featured image via Benny Sieu/Imagn Images
