Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz is a reasonable man who sees the trade panic meter for the Boston Celtics on the lowest setting — with a bonus prediction that Kevin Durant, who was once again linked to Boston by ESPN actors, will stay put in Brooklyn.
First, on the C’s front. Boston owns the league’s No. 1 record as of this writing. Last season’s league-wide No. 1 seed at the trade deadline, the Phoenix Suns, didn’t have calls for dramatic trades involving their best players. Both teams are/were losers in the previous year’s Finals, but the Celtics get unique treatment from a national media that wants to see them falter. Hence the calls to break up a core that has been to two of the last three Eastern Conference finals together.
Next, onto the Durant front. Current betting odds are heavily in the direction of a KD blockbuster, with the outcome of him being in a new uniform by the deadline currently having -200 odds per Odds Shark. An aggressive offer from a Western Conference team looking to separate themselves from the pack like the Phoenix Suns, the current betting favorite, or even his old team, the Golden State Warriors — if and only if the Dubs are dead set on moving on from Draymond Green –, seems within the realm of possibility. While the Toronto Raptors have the second best odds, they appear to be profile more as sellers.
The Boston Celtics must focus on small splashes
It’s not yet been proven, but it feels like a near given that Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart is a championship core. Robert Williams III and Al Horford are practically essential at this point in time as well.
What needs to be done now regarding this group is making sure the ancillary roles are filled with reliable backups. Some nights it feels like the wing and frontcourt are, but other nights Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet don’t seem capable of meeting the moment.
Brad Stevens needs to add an insurance policy to those two positions by 4 pm on February 9, and he’ll have done a fine job at the 2023 trade deadline.