Boston Celtics trade plan in case of an injury revealed

The Boston Celtics do not need a trade with the transaction floodgates now fully open considering contracts signed this past offseason are now eligible to be traded — with December 15 serving as a true turning point on the NBA calendar.

With more than a third of the 2022-23 schedule now in the rearview, the Cs sit firmly at the top of the league totem pole with a 22-7 record. Only the Milwaukee Bucks have reached 20 wins besides Boston as of this writing. Because of that, few are clamoring for changes to the Celtics roster.

With that said, though, there is a contingency plan should things rapidly change and injuries butcher up the depth chart. MassLive’s Brian Robb revealed the specifics of what the Boston Celtics front office would do in the event of an injury:

"“The question that will perhaps be the most fascinating in the weeks to come is whether the Celtics will keep Pritchard in (a backup) role or if they try to leverage him to upgrade another part of the roster.”“It’s going to be tough to thread the needle on that front since there aren’t really many areas of the roster that could be upgraded without other assets thrown in and keeping Pritchard as a depth option has plenty of appeal. If an injury pops up elsewhere though or another need arises, this is an area opposing executives are keeping a close eye on, per league sources.”"

Top targets the Boston Celtics could pursue with Payton Pritchard

Truthfully, the ideal Payton Pritchard trade target exists and is even an asset to the team former Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge is now running. Unfortunately, Utah Jazz forward Jarred Vanderbilt is too essential to his team’s playoff push to be considered a trade candidate at this time.

In the absence of Vanderbilt, Jae Crowder could be a solid defensive addition for a team sorely lacking it, and it’s the worst-kept secret in the league that the former Isaiah Thomas-era Cs wing is available from the Phoenix Suns. Elsewhere, a big like Bismack Biyombo could be on the table with the Suns taking him out of the equation. Jakob Poeltl is reportedly not a trade target for Boston.