Boston Celtics: PistonPowered proposes Blake Griffin-Kemba Walker swap

Hardwood Houdini sister site PistonPowered, a one-stop destination for everything Detroit Pistons, recently threw out the idea of Kemba Walker’s deal being swapped with Blake Griffins to bring the bouncy big to the Boston Celtics.

With Griffin in the news for his Pistons tenure coming to a swift and abrupt ending, it makes sense for the speculation to lead to Beantown.

BetOnline.ag, a United States sportsbook, gave the Cs the third-best odds to land Griffin in a trade:

The possibility of Boston getting in on a trade is seemingly real, despite how little sense it would be to pursue him. As CBSSports’ Sam Quinn put it, Griffin’s value is too low to consider dealing for:

"If he were simply a declining player, that would be one thing. But he is making $36.6 million this season and has a player option for nearly $39 million next season that he is almost certain to pick up. Even the few teams that could match his salary this season wouldn’t be interested in paying Blake a year from now. The Pistons may want to move him, but finding an eager buyer won’t be easy. They’d likely have to attach assets, a move that makes little sense given how early they are in their rebuild."

Regarding Aaron Kellerstrass’ proposition, trading Walker for Griffin would be a head-scratcher for the Cs. Walker’s main issue–and the only reason HH comes up with hypothetical trade scenarios for the 4x All-Star–is his health. Short-term and long-term, Walker’s road to regaining his All-Star form is an uphill climb, but that is even more so the case for Griffin.

Griffin’s deal is one year shorter than Walker’s, but his trade value is lower considering how far he has fallen since becoming an All-Star again in 2019. Walker will be easier to trade in the offseason than Griffin, and could likely fetch far more value in a deal…particularly if he could continue playing like he did last night (17 points, four assists on 3/8 3-point shooting, 4/4 from the FT line) in the Celtics’ win over Denver at the TD Garden.

Ultimately, as Kellerstrass points out, this deal doesn’t make sense for his side either:

"If their contracts were the same length, I’d say go for it, as Walker is a competitor who would fit in with this hard-nosed style the Pistons are building.But ask yourself this: Would you like a clean cap sheet after next season or an entire additional year with an aging player in decline eating up most of the cap space? Easy answer."

The more likely scenario that would land Griffin in Boston Celtics green and white is a buyout. Boston would be among the best landing spots, especially with Walker still in tow. Having multiple former All-NBA talents play complementary roles on a team with ascendant superstars would be a good business decision by Danny Ainge should he hit the market.