It’s already been a busy offseason for the Boston Celtics, but it could get even busier. In the wake of the Danilo Gallinari MLE signing and the Malcolm Brogdon trade, there are a number of directions this summer could head in with their three traded player exceptions. It should be noted that their most notable–a $17.1 million Evan Fournier TPE created by last summer’s sign-and-trade of the French guard to the New York Knicks–expires on July 18th.
HoopsHabit believes the Cs could be interested in using it before then on another piece for the increasingly loaded second unit: Los Angeles Clippers guard Luke Kennard. HH’s Giovanni Torres routed Kennard to Boston in the same deal that included Kyrie Irving being sent to the Clippers.
That would mark the second time Kennard was involved in a three-team trade with the Brooklyn Nets. The former lottery pick was acquired by L.A. from the Pistons, along with center Justin Patton, the draft rights to Jayden Scrubb (Nets 55th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft), and four second-round draft picks (Portland 2023, Detroit 2024, 2025, 2026). In that same deal, the Nets received Clippers guard Landry Shamet, Pistons guard Bruce Brown, and the draft rights to Reggie Perry (Clippers 57th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft) in the same deal, and Detroit acquired the draft rights to Saddiq Bey (Nets 19th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft), Clippers guard Rodney McGruder, Nets forward Dzanan Musa, a second-round draft pick (Toronto 2021), and the draft rights to Jaylen Hands.
This is Torres’ mock trade sending Irving to Tinseltown and Kennard to Beantown:
Why the Boston Celtics do it
It should be noted that the Celtics do need to include at least one draft pick in a deal, so a future second-round pick would need to be included (at minimum) to legally complete this trade. Boston has three second-round picks in 2023, so using one of them in a deal would hardly be a tough pill to swallow.
There’d be something poetic about the Cs helping to facilitate Kyrie Irving’s exit from the Nets, who he famously tampered with alongside former Brooklyn PG Spencer Dinwiddie — during the 2018-19 season while still under contract with Boston. Helping him land in the Western Conference for the first time could directly create a new NBA Finals competitor, but if the Boston Celtics had to knock off Irving on the way to Banner 18, most fans would cherish the chance.
Kennard is worth taking on the extra salary for, luxury tax concerns not withstanding. He is under contract for the next three seasons at under $15 million per season and just shot 45% from the 3-point line on six attempts per game.