Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report just proposed a monstrous three-team trade for the Boston Celtics to consider this summer, and it looks absolutely insane. The other teams involved are the Brooklyn Nets and Dallas Mavericks, as the deal would see the latter land Jrue Holiday, who Marc Stein of The Stein Line reported they were interested in trading for.
Meanwhile, the Nets would get some draft capital in return for taking on contracts to make the money work. All the while, the Celtics would add decent pieces and save money in the process—which needs to be their primary goal this summer.
Let’s take a look at the insane trade:
Full Celtics-Nets-Mavs megatrade
Celtics receive: Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, Drew Timme
Mavs receive: Jrue Holiday
Nets receive: Kristaps Porzingis, Dwight Powell, Olivier Maxence-Prosper, Neemias Queta, Xavier Tillman, 2026 protected first-round pick (via BOS), 2027 first-round pick swap (via BOS)
Alongside the players, each team would create a bunch of trade exceptions that could theoretically be used at a later date. But the real question is, how does this deal help the Celtics?
Why the Celtics make this trade
This trade would save the Celtics just over $37 million in cap space. That alone should be enough to get them interested in a deal.
Boston needs to clear roughly $20 million to get under the second apron this summer, which they desperately need to do in order to avoid significant CBA penalties, but the number is actually much larger than that.
That $20 million figure is without factoring in Boston having to pay its incoming rookies, as well as re-signing Luke Kornet and Al Horford, if they can find the wiggle room to do so. Pincus’ trade should give them that wiggle room.
But perhaps more importantly, the Celtics would get back some quality players in this trade.
PJ Washington is a switchable big man who can spend time at the four and five. He’s a great hustle defender and can knock down three-balls, especially when he has some great offensive initiators leading the way.
Meanwhile, Gafford is a solid rim protector who could thrive in an off-ball role for the Celtics, navigating over to the paint to reject shots.
Both guys are on expiring deals, so Boston would have to figure out what to do with them next summer, but they could spend next year evaluating their potential fit for when Jayson Tatum returns from his Achilles injury.
Regardless, the point of this deal would be to save money, and it would accomplish that goal and then some. If a trade like this came across Brad Stevens’ table, he would have to seriously consider taking it.
Some people may be thrown off by the first-round picks involved, and that's a valid gripe, but this deal would perfectly solve all of the Celtics' financial problems while also maintaining a competitive roster. That's worth the price.