The Boston Celtics won’t be bringing back any of the Danny Ainge-era frontcourt members situated on the trade block right now — namely, Phoenix Suns wing Jae Crowder and Utah Jazz big man Kelly Olynyk.
Crowder hasn’t played at all during the entire 2022-23 season thus far and asked his agent to work with the Suns’ front office to find a new home for him. Thus far, a deal has yet to be yielded from those talks. Olynyk, on the other hand, was acquired at the beginning of the offseason from the Detroit Pistons for Bojan Bogdanovic. He is currently playing for the team former Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge now runs.
MassLive’s Brian Robb poured cold water on the possibility of either having a reunion with the Cs by the trade deadline, though he was more bullish on the possibility of Jakob Poeltl in an answer to a reader’s question in his latest Celtics mailbag about who the team could trade Danilo Gallinari’s dead money for:
"“Poeltl will remain a candidate, don’t expect the Celtics to have an interest in Crowder. The same goes for Olynyk at his current salary, even though he’d be a nice stretch option off the bench.”"
The Boston Celtics will make a small splash if there’s any splash at all
It seems as though Payton Pritchard is off the table for the Boston Celtics during negotiations leading into the upcoming trade deadline, and a gamble on a player like John Collins is not happening due to a mismatch of assets the Hawks would covet and what the Cs would be willing to give up.
Expect a small splash at the deadline that would involve a second round draft pick and a contract like Justin Jackson’s being sent out — if there’s even a move to be made at the deadline at all within the next few weeks.