With several upcoming first round picks and two valuable players on two-way contracts, the Boston Celtics may need to make trades to clear up roster space for the 2020-21 season.
Roster construction has been a strong suit for Danny Ainge during his tenure as general manager of the Boston Celtics. Want proof? Look at how easily he has been able to transition from era to era while maintaining a winning culture.
In the last decade, the “Big 3” era was torn down, followed by just a one-year rebuild before the team returned to the playoffs led by Isaiah Thomas and a group of rag-tag role players that ended up earning lucrative contracts on other teams.
Thomas was traded for his replacement in Kyrie Irving, and Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum were also added before the 2017-18 season. While the stacked roster of the Irving era never truly reached its potential–with their best run since 2010 occurring during a 2018 playoffs that didn’t include the team’s highest paid stars–the transition to the current roster spearheaded by Kemba Walker.
Speaking of the current roster, this off-season may present several challenges for Ainge and co. to navigate. Things were already tough to navigate with Gordon Hayward’s player option…and that was before the season was suspended and the salary cap situation for all 30 teams was thrown into uncertainty.
One thing that seems certain for now is that the Boston Celtics own several first round draft picks in the upcoming 2020 NBA Draft. That is a positive given all of the big contracts currently on the team’s cap, but that create a roster crunch.
Boston has 12 players with guaranteed deals for 2020-21, with Tacko Fall and Tremont Waters on two-way deals. Presumably, Ainge will want to retain those two. With three upcoming first round picks, and room to make if Fall and Waters are to be retained, here are two players that could be traded to clear up roster spots: