Boston Celtics: Future second, Juan Hernangomez TPE the price for vet with Ime Udoka ties

The trade that sent Hustle star Juan Hernangomez to Utah may end up being a boomerang of favor back from the Jazz via CEO Danny Ainge, who once upon a time mentored current Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens back when Stevens was the C’s head coach and Ainge ran the front office.

Hernangomez’s trade created a TPE able to be used to absorb his outgoing salary, and his spot could finally be filled in the wake of an ACL teat set to keep out TPMLE investment Danilo Gallinari for most of, if not all of, the entire 2022-23 regular season.

Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz penned a piece entitled ‘NBA Trades That Should Still Happen Before 2022 Training Camp’ and included the teams Ainge and Stevens now run as front office executives in one of his transactions.

The trade included a veteran with Ime Udoka ties dating back to their shared days with the San Antonio Spurs. It involved a modest price for a potential bench fill-in aimed at giving Al Horford a break, Rudy Gay:

Why the Boston Celtics do it

Rudy Gay would likely not see the workload Danilo Gallinari would have had if he had been able to avoid devastation overseas in FIBA competition, but he’d be a nice gamble to regain his San Antonio form at minimum for it to be worth it.

A worst-case scenario gives them a tradeable salary. Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens has been able to work wonders before and move pieces around to acquire top-flight talent, particularly for the second unit. Expiring contracts, when paired with draft picks, could do damage.

Why the Utah Jazz do it

Danny Ainge is in sell-mode and has no reason not to get any sort of asset for a player that has no place on a very likely rebuilding team.

Rudy Gay is not sensible to roster anymore by the Jazz with Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert dealt away, and Ainge would be the last GM to not understand that. Combine the obvious trade match with that and let’s have some more training camp intrigue.