Boston Celtics: 2 surprise offseason trade candidates

Though the winning streak was halted at six this past Monday, the Boston Celtics are still a team with promise and high potential heading into the 2021 postseason.

Boasting a record of 31-27, the shamrocks find themselves sitting in the fifth seed out in the Eastern Conference standings, smack dap in the middle between the 31-26 Atlanta Hawks and the 31-27 New York Knicks.

With 16 games still left on the docket, due to the fact that the No. 3 seeded Milwaukee Bucks and No. 5 seeded Celtics are separated by a mere four wins, there’s a real shot that Boston can shoot on up in the conference and finish with a top-3 record and, in turn, better position themselves for home-court advantage.

Interestingly enough, on the opposite side of this logic, the team could just as easily plummet down to the eighth seed or worse, for the current holder of said slot, the Charlotte Hornets, are behind in the win column by just three.

Unfortunately, however, even with such a finish to the regular season, hope is bleak when it comes to Beantown coming out of the Eastern Conference, for they’ll likely need to get through the likes of the Philadelphia 76ers and the star-studded Brooklyn Nets in the process.

Unless they can find a way to beat the odds stacked against them and represent the east in the NBA Finals, it seems relatively likely that, come the offseason, Danny Ainge and co. will look to make moves in an effort to better position themselves for a championship run in the future.

These moves can come in many different ways, but perhaps the most likely route this team’s front office will take is via the trade market, for they have minimal cap space and are looking at a mid-tier first-round selection, both of which are not envious ways of trying to land a difference-maker.

Should the Boston Celtics take part in offseason dealings, we at the Houdini believe there are 2 specific players that could be used as surprise trade chips: