Boston Celtics: 2 teams that could look to trade for Aaron Nesmith

Similar to how they felt throughout their 2020-21 campaign, the Boston Celtics have had an infuriating start to 2021-22, going 6-7 through their first 13 games while seeing inconsistent performances from their core talents and quite a number of players endure injuries and other health-related ailments.

However, while the Cs, as a whole, have disappointed perhaps the player that fans are most upset about when it comes to lackluster starts to the season is Boston’s second-year wing, Aaron Nesmith.

Having shown flashes of serious potential as a legitimate NBA scorer during the latter parts of last season and absolutely shinning throughout this year’s Summer League and preseason, the former lottery pick was penciled in by many as a legitimate breakout candidate and even a potential competitor for a starting gig in the team’s first five rotation.

Unfortunately, to this point, the buzz and hype have not been met with on-court success, as he’s been somewhat of a non-factor for the ball club, posting measly per-game averages of 2.3 points and 1.6 rebounds on just 28 percent shooting from the floor and 21 percent shooting from deep.

Now, while there are many who are simply chalking things up to Nesmith being yet another draft bust from the Danny Ainge era, there are others — ourselves included — who believe that his lowly start is more so due to his inconsistent playing time than anything else.

Averaging just 9.4 minutes per outing and seeing three separate coach’s decision DNP’s is by no means a quality way of getting a shooter, let alone a young player, the confidence and rhythm that they need in order to serve as a potential difference-maker.

For some reason, it appears as though the sophomore has been living rent-free in rookie head coach, Ime Udoka’s dog house seemingly as soon as the season began and, should this keep up, we believe it could be only a matter of time before Aaron Nesmith either requests out of Boston himself or, perhaps more likely, is shopped by the front office in the hopes of potentially luring in a player/ assets they believe would be better equipped to help this team.

While we certainly hope he can start to get more opportunities to produce on the hardwood with the Celtics this season, should he ultimately be placed on the trading block we believe that there are 2 teams, in specific, that could be interested in pursuing him: