Boston Celtics: 3 Kemba Walker trades Cs should consider
By Nick Swanson
At the beginning of the season, the rumors broke that New Orleans was trying to get rid of Lonzo Ball and J.J. Redick.
I’ve been on the Ball hype train since he was drafted and it looks like he’s finally come into his own as a player. The 23-year-old point guard still has a ton of potential and fits in perfectly with the group that the Boston Celtics have right now.
His role is a defensive playmaker/ pass-first floor general that still has the ability to take over offensively if need be. The Cs weren’t one of Ball’s preferred teams for if he were to get traded but after spending half a season in Boston, under the lights, it may be enough to sway him.
The addition of J.J. Redick would do wonders for the offense coming off the bench. A spot-up 3-point shooter, Redick playing alongside Payton Pritchard off the pine would be a lethal shooting duo from deep.
Finally returning to a championship contender could light a spark under him and getting back towards his efficiency in his days with the Clippers.
Jaxson Hayes is included in this trade because he doesn’t really have a role for the Pelicans. Primarily playing in garbage time, it doesn’t seem that he will be part of the long-term future with the team. His addition would make for a roster crowded with bigs but, being he’s relatively young, he still has a ton of trade value.
Wenyen Gabriel was purely thrown in this trade to make salaries match.
The second-round pick heading to the Pelicans in this scenario is just to spice up the deal for New Orleans so that the values would match. It would be towards the end of the second round so it doesn’t have a ton of value for Boston so it wouldn’t hurt to trade it away.
Grant Williams going to the Pelicans is to level the value of assets being exchanged. He doesn’t get much playing time for the Cs and when he does play, it’s not pretty. He’s still young and has time to grow so New Orleans might have some interest.