Hardwood Houdini
Fansided

Myles Turner should be a Boston Celtics trade target

By Andrew Hughes

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - APRIL 21: Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics hugs Myles Turner #33 of the Indiana Pacers after Game Four of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs on April 21, 2019 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - APRIL 21: Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics hugs Myles Turner #33 of the Indiana Pacers after Game Four of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs on April 21, 2019 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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You could pretend you don’t see it, but you all know it happens. Playing on Team USA is the best way for players to plot exits–or recruit players to their current teams. The Boston Celtics just so happen to have a major presence on Team USA.

The stars are aligning for the Boston Celtics this summer. Sending in a recruiting team of Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart, Danny Ainge has the natural benefit of troops on the ground with the FIBA World Cup approaching in late-August. Team USA has bred brotherhoods that have festered into franchise-altering big threes.

In this player-dictating era of the NBA, players decide their own fates. They often decide their careers based on friendships formed during winning basketball. That is what Team USA Basketball is all about.

LeBron James shifted the power balance of the league by deciding to go to the Miami Heat and heading to four straight finals (and winning two of them). His times with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in 2008 winning gold for the “Redeem Team” planted the seeds for the 2010 coup.

Kevin Durant decided to get in on the winning and joined a destructive basketball juggernaut in the Golden State Warriors. He and Andre Iguodola earned gold medals together for the 2012 Olympic team.

The Brooklyn Nets’ current core of Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan was also formed for Team USA. The trio served primarily as starters for a USA team that breezed through the finals with a dominant victory in the title game against Serbia.

It’s no secret that representing your country while being coached by Greg Poppovich and spending time in practice and on the road together brings guys closer. The bonds formed during the Olympics the past decade and a half have been transformative league-wide.

That trend doesn’t figure to stop anytime soon. The Boston Celtics having four representatives, both in the starting lineup and the bench, will give the team an edge when it comes to bringing some of the nation’s premiere talent to Boston.

With Walker, Smart, Brown and Tatum forming the majority of an NBA starting lineup, the only thing the Boston Celtics are currently missing is a center. Luckily there is top-line talent at the position on Team USA.

The most obvious target for Boston is Andre Drummond. Unfortunately the only way to acquire Drummond, who figures to be the starter for Team USA this summer, would be involving Gordon Hayward’s contract. That doesn’t seem likely given recent reports.

In that case, the most sensible target is Myles Turner. As Hardwood Houdini contributor Isaac Moore pointed out, Turner makes sense when you aggregate the salaries of Enes Kanter, Daniel Theis, Romeo Langford, Grant Williams and Robert Williams. Is giving up so many rotation pieces really a smart move for Boston?

The short answer is yes. While both Williams’ and Langford all have the potential to grow together in the Boston Celtics organization, none of them make sense for the makeup of the current team. In signing Walker to a maximum contract, the Celtics decided to prioritize winning for as long as he is under contract.

Boston needs to win now. They’re paying Walker and Hayward over half of the salary cap alone, and they only have Brown and Tatum cost-controlled for so long. With the Indiana Pacers having Domantas Sabonis due for an extension at the end of the season and 2019 first-rounder Goga Bitadze able to soak up minutes at the center spot, Turner isn’t expendable but isn’t exactly a must-keep either.

With the way the league works now, getting Turner to the Boston Celtics really wouldn’t be too hard. At any point Turner could hold the Pacers over a barrel and demand a trade to Boston. Knowing Turner’s demeanor, that likely wouldn’t be how that would go down.

Next. Early apologies to Carsen Edwards. dark

However it happens though, Boston would be filling a big hole by adding the 23-year-old big man. With Team USA coming up, Boston Celtics fans have extra reasons to be patriotic. Winning this year means the United States of America reigns supreme and Boston’s patriotic quartet could be forming important connections for the greater good of the franchise’s future.

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