Boston Celtics: Heat-Oladipo trade haul makes Fournier deal a flop

The Boston Celtics were thought to have made a good–if unspectacular–deal early on in the 2021 NBA trade deadline proceedings by acquiring Evan Fournier from the Orlando Magic for two draft picks.

Then the Victor Oladipo-Miami Heat deal happened.

Goodwill built from Danny Ainge acquiring a 20-point-per-game scorer was immediately lost when the Heat stole the thunder and acquired the 21-point-per game scorer from the Houston Rockets for a couple of veterans with middling value and a draft swap.

Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk are serviceable role players, but neither project to dig the Rockets out of their current predicament. The worst record in the league is in play for Houston after recently embarking on a 20-game losing streak.

Meanwhile, the Heat get a legitimate #2 option to Jimmy Butler in the former All-Star Oladipo. After proving capable of sharing the ball with John Wall (at least enough to produce a glitzy stat line), the former lead-man for the Indiana Pacers now joins the best team he has ever played on and immediately improves Miami’s chances of winning a championship.

The Celtics could have paid that price to land Oladipo. Daniel Theis is a superior player to Olynyk, and Boston could have offered young guns like Aaron Nesmith, Romeo Langford, or Grant Williams to come up with a package that could have also provided a pick swap…at a bare minimum.

A draft pick shouldn’t be too much to give up for a team that is filled with recent first and second-round picks, not to mention undrafted free agents like Tacko Fall as well. Danny Ainge could have spared a first-rounder to land a legitimate game-changer in Oladipo.

Instead, he has Fournier, who is an upgrade offensively for the C’s bench but has never broken the 20-point playoff plateau for an Orlando Magic squad that went 2-8 in the postseason with him in uniform.

Once again, Hardwood Houdini and Boston Celtics fans everywhere dreamed big before the deadline only to see other teams get better value for superior talent.