Boston Celtics: Former No. 7 overall pick floated as trade target

The Boston Celtics have the best record in the NBA as of this writing, but there is still room for improvement as they continue to navigate a season that started off in a rough way for the team’s depth chart.

Boston’s frontcourt suffered key losses with Danilo Gallinari tearing his ACL, and, more pertinently, Robert Williams III being knocked out for the early portion of the 2022-23 season with arthroscopic knee surgery.

While Williams is expected to return soon, there is a high likelihood that he will still be sitting out games once he’s back in the rotation to preserve his body for a long postseason run. Thus, the center position will be the biggest position of need in the trade market. Adrian Wojnarowski shared as much on ESPN’s NBA Countdown ahead of the C’s victory over the Dallas Mavericks (h/t MassLive):

"“I think for Boston now as you start to look out to the February trade deadline, I think another big man, another center who could play minutes in the case of Rob Williams missing time or a 36-year-old Al Horford being out. They are trying to close every hole they can to be a championship team. We can watch Boston as they get closer to the trade deadline, seeing if there are any frontcourt help off their bench they could acquire.”"

A former No. 7 overall NBA Draft pick was floated as a Boston Celtics trade target

ClutchPoints’ Jesse Cinquini floated out the possibility of the Boston Celtics adding a former lottery pick to cure the team’s shaky frontcourt rotation — that being former No. 7 overall pick Bismack Biyombo.

Biyombo has been a valuable second unit center for the Phoenix Suns in 2022-23 despite his efficiency falling off from recent years. With JaVale McGee now on the Mavericks, he has assumed the first big off the bench role, and has even spot-started for the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed as of this writing.

His nearly $3 million in salary could be acquired if Boston wanted to offer non-guaranteed deals (Justin Jackson, Noah Vonleh) and draft capital, but the Suns may not want to tinker with their roster just yet.