Tom Westerholm: ‘Celtics should be blowing up the Spurs phones for Keldon Johnson’

In trading Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks for Danillo Gallinari, who is about to be waived and set free to sign with the team of his choosing (Boston has great Italian food, just saying), the San Antonio Spurs opened the door for win-now teams around the league to pounce on their remaining intriguing role players. The Boston Celtics need to bust that door down and demand one of their final too-good-to-tank producers, Keldon Johnson.

Johnson was an Olympic gold medalist with Team USA in 2021 for the pandemic-delayed 2020 Olympics in Japan who made every shot he took during America’s 3-1 run to the top last summer. He only took two shots, but even making the team (along with JaVale McGee) was a shocker, though not as much with the context that Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was Team USA HC as well.

That experience with Jayson Tatum isn’t something to write off considering all the post-Olympics team-ups we’ve seen in the past. While this wouldn’t be like the Miami Heat’s LeBron James-Dwyane Wade-Chris Bosh orchestrated free agent coup (or anything close) this would be a strategic play by Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens to find the ideal wing to pair with the ‘Jays’ and Marcus Smart.

Tom Westerholm of Boston.com, and formerly of MassLive, weighed in on the matter, noting that if Johnson is gettable, the Celtics need to be ‘blowing up the Spurs phones’:

What the Boston Celtics could offer the Spurs in a Keldon Johnson trade

Ideally, San Antonio would view Johnson as a roadblock to a tumble down the standings, which may as well be the team’s goal in the wake of the decision to off All-Star and 21/9/8 near-triple-double slash line owner Dejounte Murray. In that scenario, it’d make all the sense in the world to try to pawn him off for assets, especially as he nears restricted free agency in the summer of 2023. Teams will have more cap space then, but if the Boston Celtics can acquire him ahead of time and enjoy success throughout the season and playoffs once more–with Johnson of course playing a key part in it–they could end up not sweating whatever he’d ask for in contract negotiations.

What would it take for the Spurs to answer the phone and get sold on a deal? For starters, a future first-rounder would have to be on the table. Considering the Celtics owed their 2022 selection to San Antonio due to the Derrick White trade at this past February 10th trade deadline, Boston would have to give up their 2024 and/or 2026 pick. Both could be required in a trade into one of the C’s TPEs–any of them work with just a $3.8 million cap figure–but perhaps only one could be required if a player like Grant Williams or Payton Pritchard was reeled into the mix. Pritchard would probably be preferable considering the lack of point guards in the Alamo City. Aaron Nesmith, a future first, and a pair of second-round picks would also be a package worth exploring the rebuilding Spurs.