With the Boston Celtics’ $17.1 million traded player exception created by the Evan Fournier sign-and-trade to the New York Knicks last August expiring this coming Monday, the final descending sand in the hourglass is about to hit the bottom half. It’s crunch time for Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens and co. if they’re going to make use of that TPE at all.
Few are expecting the Cs to be able to use it on a true difference-maker considering the lack of obviously available players that can be had at the moment. The Kevin Durant trade momentum grinding to a halt is the primary culprit for that.
Still, Stevens has proven to be a shifty front office leader that explores every avenue and is aggressive in adding talent. With an obvious need for a backup big man with Daniel Theis traded–assuming Boston doesn’t just lock in Mfiondu Kabengele as their reserve big considering his red-hot Summer League performance–certain teams in need of a draft pick restock could be of interest as a trade partner.
Both the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves, the two teams that collaborated on the Rudy Gobert blockbuster, qualify as potential swap partners. Utah is looking to offload anything of value for a draft pick as they look to move Donovan Mitchell and hit the reset button after several failed postseason runs with their two All-Stars. Minnesota would do well to refill their draft cupboard a bit after Utah ravaged it.
Dan Greenberg of BSS proposed two targets from those two teams (that both played in Minnesota last season) in a response to a Twitter user’s question about who the Cs could pursue with the Fournier TPE:
The Boston Celtics should explore adding Jarred Vanderbilt or Naz Reid with Evan Fournier TPE
The Minnesota Timberwolves were relevant this past season mainly due to Karl-Anthony Towns, but write off the big man pair of Jarred Vanderbilt and Naz Reid at your own risk. Both bigs were integral parts of the Wolves’ frontcourt rotation.
With that said, their games differ somewhat drastically. Vanderbilt is a more traditional big man with his shooting struggles being overshadowed by his aggressiveness on the block. Reid’s shot is a work in progress, but there’s nowhere near as much work needing to be done. The former LSU Tiger owns a career 34% 3-point conversion rate and has improved his efficiency vastly the past two years.
Stevens can sign Kabengele and make a move for one of these two to really shore up the rotation behind the oft-injured Robert Williams and aging Al Horford. The Boston Celtics will need bodies on nights one or both of those two needs to ride the pine.