Boston Celtics dream offseason target traded to Knicks in HH’s latest mock

The Boston Celtics seem to be gearing up for quite an eventful offseason after a 2021-22 campaign that saw themselves fall just two wins shy of attaining their 18th championship banner.

Though they didn’t manage to move up the draft board during this past Thursday’s illustrious event like many believed they would, the belief now is that there could some major moves coming up on the horizon, and President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens, only managed to strengthen this notion by publicly stating that “things are just getting started.”

Now, of course, what these “things” could wind up being are still certainly just a mystery to fans and media pundits alike but, whatever they are, the popular hope is that we could be seeing the ball club add on that highly coveted third star to have run alongside the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to, in turn, formulate the league’s newest iteration of a Big-3.

Over the last few years, we’ve seen a multitude of talents being tabbed as potential targets to serve as the team’s third cog within the lineup, with big names such as John Collins, Deandre Ayton, and, of course, Bradley Beal all often being penciled in as ‘dream’ additions.

As of late, we’ve seen San Antonio Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray has been thrust into this grouping of ballers that Boston Celtics fans would absolutely love to see the franchise pursue this summer, for the team, according to a vast majority of fans and outlets, should strongly consider upgrading their point guard rotation with a more legitimate pass-first talent.

Without a doubt, Murray is viewed as exactly that.

However, going about acquiring the 2022 NBA All-Star selection has always been viewed as being a rather difficult transaction for the C’s to execute, arguably even being harder than striking a deal for all of the other aforementioned targets due to his youth (25 years old), affordable contract ($17 million annually through 2024), and his ability to excel on both ends of the floor.

Just recently, in a mock trade composed by Jack Simone of Hoops Habit, we may have been introduced to something close to what the actual price would be to land the floor general this offseason, and, unfortunately, it would appear that, unless they’re willing to part with someone like Brown (they better not), the Boston Celtics and their fanbase may have to put this dream of bringing aboard Dejounte Murray to rest.

Perhaps the most lucrative, yet still realistic trade package concocted came in the proposal that sees the star being sent to the shamrocks’ Atlantic Division rival, the New York Knicks:

Should the Spurs part ways with Murray via trade this summer, it would almost certainly insinuate that the franchise is looking to embark on a major rebuild which, of course, means that draft picks and youthful prospects galore will need to be present in their exchange package.

Sadly, Boston does not have these types of commodities due to both their trades made over the last few seasons (most recently, their 2023 first-round selection was already sent over to San Antonio in the Derrick White deal) and their shortcomings during the last few draft cycles.

The Knicks, on the other hand, have plenty of both to spare, and that’s exactly what we see the franchise shipping over to them in Simone’s proposal.

Now yes, obviously this is a mere speculative piece pertaining to a hypothetical trade that Hoops Habit believes could look something similar to what actually would transpire should the Spurs opt to trade their franchise guard.

However, we at the Houdini are actually under the same belief as our sister site that it would take a haul focused on a full-fledged youth movement for General Manager, Brian Wright, to pull the trigger and, because of this, the dream target that is Dejounte Murray may, unfortunately, have to stay exactly that for the Boston Celtics.