Boston Celtics: “Pass or pursue” on 3 impending free agents

Free Agent Target No. 3) Serge Ibaka

The third and final player we will be discussing today is the reigning NBA champion, Serge Ibaka. Currently in the final year of his 3-year, $65M contract, the power forward finds himself playing some of his most efficient brand of basketball since entering the league back in 2009.

Through 50 games this season the 30-year-old big is boasting solid averages of 16 points, 8.3 rebounds, and just shy of a block per game on 52 percent shooting from the floor and 40 percent shooting from deep.

In the past, we’ve advocated for the Boston Celtics to pursue the 11-year-veteran this offseason, deeming him the exact “type of player a Brad Stevens-run team would love to have at the pivot.”

"Offensively he has an impressive array of post moves and can easily help Boston space the floor better (shoots 36 percent from deep for his career). Defensively, well, we know how good he can be. The man referred to as “Serge-I-block-a” is a 3x All-Defensive First-Team selection and a 2x NBA blocks leader — averages 2.1 blocks a game for his career."

At this juncture in time, we still believe all this to be true.

Now, I know a lot of you have voiced your opinions on this matter — and we love it –, suggesting that Ibaka could simply find himself out of Boston’s price range this summer. A fair concern indeed.

However, with the fact that the NBA’s salary cap is likely to be negatively impacted due to COVID-19, coupled with the fact that he will be on the “wrong side” of 30 by the time next season rolls around (birthday is in September), perhaps the most realistic offer the veteran big will receive, especially from contending teams, will be an MLE, something the Celtics could 100% offer.

As we pointed out in our previous article on this subject, if winning is of the utmost importance for Ibaka at this stage in his career, then it would be all the more enticing for the big man to consider the Boston Celtics.

"Some may find it a hard thing to believe that any team could pry Ibaka away from Toronto this offseason. However, if his main goal is to win another ring, he might be able to be convinced to switch area codes — or countries, in this situation — if a greater opportunity were to arise. Joining a much younger core consisting of younglings like Jayson Tatum (22), Jaylen Brown (23) & Marcus Smart (26) as well as early-30’s talents such as Kemba Walker (30) and Gordon Hayward (30) might appear to be more of an enticing move for the 30-year-old Serge Ibaka."

Serge Ibaka would be an unbelievable asset for the shamrocks to have in their frontcourt come next season. If there were any player on the open market Boston should chase after, it should be him.

Verdict: Pursue