Boston Celtics: “Pass or Pursue” on 3 proposed blockbuster trades
By Mark Nilon
The Boston Celtics may still find themselves in the midst of the 2021-22 campaign, battling it out in this year’s Eastern Conference Finals against the top-seeded Miami Heat, but this hasn’t stopped those in the media from looking ahead to the offseason and seeing what Brad Stevens and co. may be capable of in a hypothetical effort to bolster their rotation for 2022-23.
In the modern-day NBA, rostering an abundance of star power is generally a highly sought-after phenomenon, and those with the most top-tier talent on their side are generally seen as the more likely candidates to take home the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Now, as we previously stated, the C’s are in quite an enviable spot, as they are just one round shy of reaching their first NBA Finals in over a decade, and have gotten to this stage in four of their last six seasons.
However, should this go-around see them endure the same fate as their other championship bids, many believe that, come the summer, Boston’s front office could look to make some sizeable alterations to their talent pool.
To us at HH, all the ball club would likely need to do is improve upon some of their role players to better surround franchise cornerstones Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, for this core, if they can remain healthy, has the ability to be special, as we’ve seen throughout this year’s campaign.
However, not everyone is of like mind on the matter, as some are under the impression that, should they fall short of a title, the team should look to improve upon their star talent pool and consider partaking in some offseason deals to address this area of their roster makeup.
The folks at Bleacher Report seem to be of this latter belief and, as a result, they went about and concocted 3 potential blockbusters the Boston Celtics may want to consider during this coming offseason.
With this, it inspired us at the Houdini to push out another installment of our favorite series we like to call “Pass or Pursue”, where we take proposed ideas pertaining to the franchise and discuss whether Boston should avoid having them become a reality or if they should actively try to make them happen.
So, without further ado, let’s get started:
Boston Celtics trade No. 1) Anthony Davis finally heads to Massachusetts
A few years back, there were serious rumblings about former Pelicans superstar big man, Anthony Davis, making his way to the Boston Celtics via a blockbuster trade, and was even heavily recruited by some of their, then, players.
As we all know now, such a move was never made, and he was ultimately acquired by the Los Angeles Lakers where he would taste glory during his first year donning the gold threads, nabbing a title during the COVID-19 shortened 2019-20 season.
Since then, however, things have soured a bit between the perennial All-Star and the storied franchise, as injuries and inconsistent play have been the theme since re-upping on a five-year, $190 million deal back in December of 2020.
Things have gotten so low, in fact, that after missing out on the postseason entirely in 2022, rumors have begun to circulate that LA could be open to the concept of shipping out Davis, and B/R believes that, should these rumblings prove to be true, the C’s may want to consider pursuing him, even if it means swapping out Jaylen Brown in exchange.
The idea here is that Tatum and Brown’s skillsets on the same ball club are somewhat redundant, and, according to Zach Buckley, swapping the latter out for AD could give Boston a much more complementary star duo to work with, all while keeping their tenacious defensive production intact:
"Bringing Davis to Boston would super-power this already elite defense and make it easier for the Celtics stars to play off of one another, since there wouldn’t be as much skill overlap as there is now. Sending Brown to L.A. could give the Lakers the two-way wing they so desperately need."
Now, back in 2018, if someone were to have told you that, in order to get a guy like Anthony Davis, all you’d have to do is give up Jaylen Brown and mere salary fillers in return, chances are you would have jumped at such an opportunity, for his two-way production is truly that of all-time great status.
However, this is 2022, and, as things currently stand, the unfortunate truth is the power forward’s play seems to be on the decline due to a multitude of factors, and is on a contract that will pay him an average salary of $40.6 million through 2025, while Brown (who is four years younger, mind you) is only proving that he has the capability of getting better and is coming off of a regular season where he posted 23.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.1 steals on 47 percent shooting from the floor and 36 percent shooting from deep whilst also being legitimately snubbed from attaining his second All-Star nod.
While we at HH truly do hope to see a bounce-back season from Davis in 2022-23 and beyond, at this point in time he is a bit too risky of a commodity to try and trade for, especially if it comes at the expense of losing Jaylen Brown.