Boston Celtics: 3 deals to acquire Steven Adams from Oklahoma City
With the Oklahoma City set to begin rebuilding, their continued tear down could result in the Boston Celtics nabbing their stud center Steven Adams.
NBA trade season is upon us. While Danny Ainge hasn’t made any blockbuster deals quite yet, the Boston Celtics have been hot in trade rumors–particularly because of the possibility Gordon Hayward opts out or is dealt this offseason.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have luckily picked up the slack, completing the first deal of the offseason with the Los Angeles Lakers, per Adrian Wojnarowski:
"Ahead of the lifting of the transaction window on Monday afternoon, the Los Angeles Lakers intend to acquire Oklahoma City guard Dennis Schroder, sources told ESPN. The deal can be formally agreed to in principle Monday and finalized after the NBA draft on Wednesday night. As part of the trade, the Lakers are preparing to send the player they select with the 28th overall pick and guard Danny Green to the Thunder, sources said. Los Angeles cannot outright send the draft pick to Oklahoma City because there is a rule that restricts teams from trading first-round picks in consecutive years. Los Angeles sent the No. 4 overall pick in the 2019 draft to the New Orleans Pelicans as part of the Anthony Davis trade. The Thunder already own the 25th pick in Wednesday’s draft."
With Schroder’s departure quickly being followed by Chris Paul’s exile to Phoenix, it is clear the Thunder plan on cleaning house of any veteran that can help them win too much.
Enter Steven Adams.
Here are 3 trades the Cs should consider to acquire the genetically-gifted Kiwi:
Why the Boston Celtics do it
This deal would strip the Cs roster pretty bare, but it would give them a potential Kemba Walker-Marcus Smart-Jaylen Brown-Jayson Tatum-Steven Adams starting lineup. Try scoring on that fivesome (I’d recommend attacking Kemba Walker incessantly).
The money works if the deal was delayed until after free agents signed their deals, and with the offseason being such a blur, that could be a modest amount of time to wait. If Danny Ainge could subsequently trade Gordon Hayward to retool the bench, the Cs could come into opening night 2020 with the most well-balanced roster in the NBA.
Why the Oklahoma City Thunder do it
Out of all the players acquired in the deal, Romeo Langford, Grant Williams, and Robert Williams hold the most value as contributors moving forward. Everyone else is salary filler for the Thunder’s purposes to make the money work. The draft picks are the main course for OKC moving forward in really any deal.