Boston Celtics: Evaluating 2 blockbuster trades to land Victor Oladipo
By Mark Nilon
Boston Celtics blockbuster deal No. 1) The Weiss Proposal
The Athletic’s Jarred Weiss laid out the blueprint for what a Victor Oladipo/ Gordon Hayward swap would look like. It would include the two former All-Stars joining new teams (albeit to drastically different roles) while the Boston Celtics would surrender multiple draft picks to get a deal done.
Oladipo and Hayward have both suffered injuries in recent years after All-Star seasons.
Hayward has not been able to fully bounce back — though his numbers were great in 2019-20, he still missed plenty of games — and had a poor enough 2018-19 comeback season to depreciate his value below Oladipo’s.
Granted, we didn’t see a lot of the Indiana product after his injury, but he had several 20+ point postseason performances against Miami, including a 5-11 masterpiece from the 3-point line in a 9-19 effort overall in Game 4.
That final image of Oladipo valiantly carrying Indiana with 25 of their 87 points in a borderline pathetic offensive effort may be enough to make him a guy worth giving up multiple first-round picks for. Remember, the Los Angeles Clippers’ trade for Paul George set the market for what a star player can fetch on the open market.
Bringing in an athlete like Oladipo to share a backcourt with Kemba Walker and also share the wing with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum should be a dream come true for Celtics fans in this writer’s opinion.