2 players that may have played their final game with the Boston Celtics
By Mark Nilon
Boston Celtics player No. 1) Aaron Nesmith
To kick off our list, we have a player in Aaron Nesmith who, even before being brought aboard, has been mainly viewed as a trade chip rather than a legitimate long-term rotational piece for this ball club.
Leading up to the 2020 NBA Draft, it was reported by many outlets and insiders that the Boston Celtics were interested in dealing away their three total first-round selections on the night, particularly their lone lottery pick stationed at 14th overall.
Of course, no trades were made with said pick and, as a result, the organization opted to take the Vanderbilt product to try and bolster their wing depth and second unit scoring punch.
From there, Nesmith saw himself more frequently intertwined within the league’s trade rumor-mill rather than logging minutes in the C’s rotation, and, now with his sophomore season officially over, we expect more of the same rumblings to surface, only this time we believe a deal finally gets done.
Despite the fact that he’s had an up-and-down (mainly down) tenure with Boston, one could argue that the small forward still has a decent amount of intrigue attached to his name, particularly in the eyes of rebuilding franchises.
On a team like Boston that’s vying for championship banners, someone like Nesmith won’t be given the attention that’s needed in order to help his development.
On a team in the midst of a full-fledged makeover that’s more interested in collecting draft capital and youthful assets than victories, however, someone of his ilk is bound to be granted the proper guidance and tutelage in an effort to try and help him reach their full potential.
Be it when he averaged 8.6 points and 5.1 rebounds on 42 percent shooting from deep when receiving 20+ minutes per game during his rookie campaign, during the 2021 Summer League where he boasted averages of 17.4 points and 6.2 rebounds on 50 percent shooting from the field in 26.7 minutes, or in the 2021-22 preseason where he posted 10.8 points on 53 percent shooting from the floor and 50 percent shooting from deep in 17.1 minutes, the 22-year-old has shown flashes of why he was labeled a lottery talent when he’s been given ample run.
The Celtics won’t be able to consistently give him these types of opportunities, but a team in the midst of a rebuild just might.
As we’ve stated on numerous occasions in the past, there could be quite a number of organizations that could engage Brad Stevens and co. this summer to try and bring a rookie-scale talent like Aaron Nesmith aboard.
The clock on this front starts now.