Boston Celtics: 3 trade destinations for Daniel Theis
By Mark Nilon
With just under 10 days to go between now and the March 25th NBA Trade Deadline, Boston Celtics fans are currently finding themselves hoping for the best and expecting the worst so they can simply be ready for anything in between.
The best, obviously, would be seeing the Cs landing an actual impact player like Harrison Barnes or John Collins without giving up too many assets.
The bad would be either seeing the team overpay for a guy like, say, Andre Drummond — someone we personally have on our “no trades” list — or, simply, see the same old story of “we came close to making a deal” by Danny Ainge.
As for the “anything in between” narrative, this is somewhat open for debate but, for us, something that could fall into this category is making smaller deals involving underutilized commodities or expiring contracts.
One player who could fall into either one of these two categories is Daniel Theis who, if Brad Stevens’ recent comments are any indicator, could be viewed as expendable by the franchise.
The Boston Celtics could find a few takers for Daniel Theis on the trade market
In the final year of his contract, Theis has been playing quite well through 36 games of action, boasting averages of 9.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks on 57 percent shooting from the floor.
Though one may consider his production to be a positive, front offices are paid to look ahead and, with his deal coming to an end, the German Hammer could theoretically play his way out of Boston, for his specific skill set is something that is highly coveted around the association.
Instead of potentially losing him for nothing this upcoming offseason, perhaps Ainge and co. would be willing to shop him around to receive some consolation return package.
If the Boston Celtics were to actually put Daniel Theis on the block, we believe there are 3 specific teams that could be highly interested in pursuing a trade:
Boston Celtics trade partner No. 1) Houston Rockets
First up on the list is quite possibly the easiest team to explain why Daniel Theis could make for a suitable target: his expiring contract.
As we’re all well aware, the Houston Rockets are a team in complete disarray and, if rumors are true, they could be on the verge of implosion, as rival executives believe that General Manager Rafael Stone could be gearing up for a Space City fire sale.
Should this happen, ultimately it will be all about rebuilding and retooling for the future, which means either looking to bring on young assets, draft capital, or simply cutting bait on some of their longer-term contracts and, in turn, bringing on ones that will be coming to an end.
Catch our drift?
For the Rockets, a move for Theis would be to simply clear up cap space come the offseason while, for the Celtics, it could be to make the money work in exchange for another player like, say, P.J. Tucker.