Boston Celtics: Jakob Poeltl deemed ‘dream fit’ but trade cost may be too high

The Boston Celtics did wonders for their guard rotation in the blockbuster trade with the Indiana Pacers that brought back Malcolm Brogdon in exchange for a future draft pick and role players that largely rode the bench during the 2022 NBA Finals and throughout this past postseason. In trading Daniel Theis away, though, Boston shipped off their ‘break glass in case of emergency’ center and has few options behind the oft-injured Robert Williams in 2022-23.

Perhaps the issue is overstated considering the presence of Al Horford, who capably filled in at the 5 capably with the ‘Time Lord’ nursing a torn meniscus in his left knee throughout the C’s playoff run. Grant Williams is also a great small-ball pivot in a pinch and a suitable frontcourt partner for Horford in those situations.

With that said, let’s not pretend that there wouldn’t be panic around these parts and across many Celtics circles if Luke Kornet was asked to contribute big minutes for extended stretches of the 2022-23 season. Finding one more big man in free agency or the trade market should be the team’s goal to put a cherry on top of a summer that has yielded pretty spectacular results — at least considering the resources the Boston Celtics front office had to improve the roster coming into free agency.

Spotrac cap expert and CelticsBlog writer Keith Smith raised a potential answer to the proposed problems in the form of San Antonio Spurs pivot Jakob Poeltl. As Smith says in a piece titled “Celtics dwindling backup center options”, Poeltl is ‘kind of a dream fit’ but the cost of acquiring him in a trade may be too high for the Celtics front office’s tastes:

"“Jakob Poeltl – San Antonio Spurs: This would be kind of a dream fit. But the cost is probably more than Boston wants to pay in terms of picks and then salary/tax.”"

At this past February’s trade deadline, San Antonio was looking for a first-round pick and a “quality player” in exchange for Poeltl, according to NBA insider Marc Stein. After the Dejounte Murray trade brought back three future firsts and a pick swap, the price may not remain as high as it was five months ago. With Poeltl on a $9 million expiring salary, though, the Spurs may not be motivated to move him for just any return.

Who the Boston Celtics could offer in a Jakob Poeltl trade

Truthfully, with Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens given the blessing to be in win-now mode following the team’s Eastern Conference championship victory and six-game Finals series loss, a Jakob Poeltl pursuit shouldn’t be ruled out entirely even with the price set so high.

In theory, it’d behoove Stevens and co. to offer Grant Williams, who is due for an extension following the 2022-23 season, and Payton Pritchard as the primary pieces in a deal, but because the salaries don’t directly match Poeltl’s, Boston would have to perform two separate transactions to absorb the Vienna product into the Evan Fournier TPE and then subsequently send the Spurs their two late-first round draft picks from the 2019 and 2020 drafts. That’d be worth it to consolidate the rotation, giving the Cs a second unit of Malcolm Brogdon, Derrick White, Danilo Gallinari, and Poeltl.

Giving up anything more than that should be considered a non-starter for the Cs front office. But G. Williams, Pritchard, and a future first for Poeltl isn’t too high of a price to pay to elevate the second unit to best in the league by far.