The Boston Celtics got their fireworks with Kyrie Irving, but that will not stop the trade rumors
The Boston Celtics finally made their massive blockbuster trade, and they are officially out of Brooklyn Nets picks. In most ways, the Celtics have cashed in on their assets, and have a great core of players that they want to compete and grow together for a long time.
Despite that, Danny Ainge’s name will not stop coming up when any potential trade is mentioned, and there is still all kinds of speculation about multiple players that may be targeted before the season starts, or at the trade deadline.
The problem is that if the Celtics do not want to threaten the young core that they have presented as the future, the only real asset they have left is the Lakers pick, which many people do not believe will land in the top five, killing most of the value.
All the moves the Celtics have done are pointing to how much they believe in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Ainge and Brad Stevens want them to be the future of this team, and there may not be another franchise who would value them nearly as much.
More from Hardwood Houdini
- Boston Celtics’ two-way contract decision will be made after training camp
- Proposed trade sends Boston Celtics playoff killer to the Cs from rival
- ‘Face of Germany’s stunning run’ in FIBA World Cup not the only ex-Boston Celtics player to win gold
- Proposed Boston Celtics trade target pitched for reunion with fired coach
- Battle For Banner 18: Will Boston Celtics battle historical foe in 2024 Finals?
Taking that into account, it would take some miracle of an opportunity for Ainge to part ways with one of those two. Obviously Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward are guaranteed to be the future plans of this team, and Ainge would not even consider parting with one of them, unless he could get good value on some crazy Anthony Davis trade, and this is just not going to happen.
In the realm of realistic possibilities, Irving, Hayward, Brown and Tatum are as close to untouchable as you can get, and taking them out of the equation eliminates any kind of game changing trade target.
The Celtics would have to package the Lakers pick with Marcus Smart and one of their young bigs to try and get anything decent, and that is not the kind of trade Ainge looks to make. Ainge always value the youth and after sending Ante Zizic away, the other young bigs on the team become valuable.
Smart has also done things for the Celtics that a lot of people do not appreciate as much as the Celtics. With his shooting, any team will try to low ball an offer involving him.
If the Celtics found a perfect situation where a team would want to trade for Al Horford, maybe something can work. The problem is that the Celtics would have to be trading with a win now team because of Horford’s age and contract, and they will not want to sacrifice the kind of talent the Celtics are looking for.
On top of that, teams will be a lot more reluctant to trade away a young player if they are getting Horford in return, and Ainge made it clear by trading for Irving that he is more interested in the near future core, than the one right now. Ainge wants players that are still at the beginning of their prime.
The Celtics are no longer the asset hoarding reluctant traders that they were labeled for so long. In fact, they are now in one of the harder positions in the league to make any kind of franchise changing trade.
And yet, the rumors do not stop. Ainge has a long history of a lot of trade, and a lot of them have also been shocking. I suppose it would be foolish to completely rule out Ainge trying to make another package to improve the team.
Next: Next Trade Targets for the Celtics
As long as Ainge is at the helm, it will no longer matter the situation the Celtics are in. When there is a star talent being wasted like Davis, people will speculate about Ainge going after him. When both Irving and Hayward follow Marc Gasol on some social media, everyone will jump to the same conclusion.