Boston Celtics: 2 surprise offseason trade candidates
By Mark Nilon
Boston Celtics player No. 1) Evan Fournier
Acquired at this year’s trade deadline, Evan Fournier was brought in to serve a similar role to that of Gordon Hayward last season as a fourth scoring option alongside Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker.
Averaging nearly 20 points per game on 46 percent shooting from deep and 39 percent shooting from the floor, on paper, the acquisition made quite a bit of sense for this surprising offensively inept Cs team.
Unfortunately, however, the swingman has yet to play more than four total games with the Boston Celtics due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols and, in said games, he has been wildly inconsistent, going 0-10 for zero points in game one and dropping 17 points on 80 percent shooting from deep in game four.
While Ainge has publicly stated that the acquisition of Fournier is viewed as beneficial for both the now and the future, perhaps a future benefit involving the 28-year-old could come in the form of a TPE, according to our very own Andrew Hughes.
"In what can only be described as a game of TPE musical chairs, it appears as though Ainge has acquired a sweet-shooting wing to compete with Marcus Smart for minutes on the wing that may or may not re-sign in the offseason. Essentially, Ainge has reshuffled the deck by getting a less versatile Gordon Hayward to fill the hole left by Gordon Hayward…with the possibility of signing-and-trading him to create another traded player exception. Fournier’s market is a question mark this offseason, but at just 28-years-old, a long-term deal isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Plenty of teams will be in demand for the Frenchman, especially considering the fact that guys like Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Tim Hardaway Jr. all earned contracts north of $60 million in free agency."
Opening up some cap space to potentially bring on a player of more value via trade could certainly be an option for the cash-strapped Celtics this offseason and, should Fournier not meet expectations upon his return, it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility to see such an ordeal take place.