Boston Celtics: 3 ideal TPE targets Cs should consider

After the James Harden deal to Brooklyn, the Boston Celtics may want to utilize their $28 million TPE to try and match the Nets’ recently bolstered firepower.

As things currently stand, the Boston Celtics are the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference standings and boast the second-best record in the entire league at 8-3.

However, while their present has been quite successful, their sights should be set on the future, where they’ll likely have to go through several talented squads in the playoffs which, by all accounts, is a whole nother type of ball game.

Perhaps the team on many C’s fans’ minds is the Brooklyn Nets, who just landed James Harden earlier this week via trade and, in turn, formulated arguably the most talented big-3 ever assembled with him running alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

The shamrocks reportedly were in talks to land the superstar guard but, ultimately, Danny Ainge opted to pass, as the price to acquire him would have been too much for Boston to bear.

That said, while they may have been wise to pull out of such talks, now that their conference rival has added more fuel to their already illustrious fire, the Celtics should strongly consider making some moves of their own to try and combat the star power of the rest of the east’s elite teams.

Are the shamrocks a good roster in possession of several studs? Of course!

Still, if they want to put themselves in as good of a position as their rivals to attain the Larry O’Brien trophy in 2021, Ainge may want to bolster their roster around their stars, and a great way to do this would be by utilizing their historically rich $28 million trade exception.

Should they ultimately go down this road, there are 3 players the Houdini believes would be worth trading for:

Boston Celtics TPE target No. 1) Joe Harris, Brooklyn Nets

With the trade that nabbed James Harden, the Brooklyn Nets endured what the Boston Celtics chose not to: a gutted core.

It was obvious that any blockbuster for the All-Star would require a bevy of valuable assets being sent packing, and the Houston Rockets managed to convince Nets General Manager Sean Marks to part with a treasure trove combination of both young talents and future draft picks.

Arguably the biggest loss for Brooklyn was the departure of starting center Jarrett Allen, who was finding himself having a fantastic campaign, especially down the stretch where he began starting and posted 13.4 points, 10 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game on 71 percent shooting from the floor.

Now, unfortunately for Brooklyn, they are stuck with a depleted center rotation, as their only other real option is DeAndre Jordan.

With this, Marks may look to the trade market once more to try and find a deal to land a low-cost option at the pivot.

Should this happen, the Cs might want to consider dealing one of their bigs and use their leverage to try and pry sharpshooter Joe Harris away.

The seventh-year shooting guard is finding himself averaging 14.5 points and 3.6 rebounds a night on an impressive 52 percent shooting from the floor and 50 percent shooting from deep.

With him, Boston’s floor-spacing would only serve to benefit while also allowing Marcus Smart to slide back to his best-served sixth-man role to help lead the team’s reletively underwhelming second-unit.

A starting lineup of Kemba Walker, Joe Harris, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Tristan Thompson (assuming they trade Daniel Theis to Brooklyn) would be one of the most well-rounded units in the entire league and would likely prove to be quite a handful during the postseason.