Hardwood Houdini
Fansided

Boston Celtics: Unlikely that starter gets traded at deadline

By Andrew Hughes

The presence of the Boston Celtics' near-star guard made the trade of All-Defensive First Teamer, Marcus Smart, possible Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
The presence of the Boston Celtics' near-star guard made the trade of All-Defensive First Teamer, Marcus Smart, possible Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Boston Celtics starting five in 2021-22 was 12 points/100 possessions better than the second-best team and had the best defensive rating, while also ranking third in offensive rating per NBC Sports Boston’s Max Lederman.

To say they need to make a change to that group would be borderline sacrilege for those who followed last season’s run to the Finals closely — even if we haven’t seen how they’d fare yet this season under Joe Mazzulla.

In answering a question about whether or not the front office would consider moving the expiring contract of Al Horford, MassLive’s Brian Robb shut down the possibility of finding a deal for the 36-year-old big man:

"“Horford is a trade asset as a big expiring but I don’t see any real scenario in which the Celtics move him this year. He’s clearly an integral part of the team’s starting five and a respected leader in the locker room. Moving a piece like him midseason would shake the team’s foundation and there is just no reason to do that on a title contender. He’s not going to fetch much in the deal so the Celtics would be far better off keeping him around as long as he’s willing to play for reasonable money.”"

Who the Boston Celtics would have to give a hard look at trading Al Horford for

In the Houdini’s opinion, there are certain players that would make sense signing off on a deal involving Al Horford for if I were Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens — with the caveat that the deal is expansive enough to make the Cs too good to beat.

Swapping out the veteran leader for a player with championship experience like 4x champion Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green or a package involving Dallas Mavericks guard Spencer Dinwiddie and Christian Wood. There’d be plenty more moving parts in either trade iteration, but both of those are workable frameworks.

Whether or not either of the other teams would want Horford instead of who they’d be sending out is another question, but the point here is that while a deal isn’t likely, the right deal shouldn’t be written off for a player who left Boston in free agency the last chance he got.

Home/Celtics News