Former Celtics big man may be traded to rival team based on latest rumor

The start of the NBA's trade season has begun. As of Dec. 15, most players who signed new contracts in the offseason are eligible to get rerouted. That applies to 82 of this offseason's free agents.

However, despite most players around the Association now able to get included in a deal, no trade has happened since that notable date on the league's calendar. That's not a surprise to Brad Stevens.

"I think everybody, or a lot of teams, are really still very much in, 'Let's see how everything looks as time moves on,' said the Boston Celtics' president of basketball operations earlier this week. "I think, you know, everybody's a work in progress. There's — what's the difference between third and ninth in the East right now? There's hardly anything, right? And I think that we're all still trying to figure out who we are and what we can be."

Keep an eye on a former member of the Celtics' core

During an appearance on Amazon Prime's Friday night NBA coverage, Senior Insider Chris Haynes reported on what the Golden State Warriors are looking to accomplish between now and the Feb. 5 trade deadline.

"The Warriors, I would say, are buyers," Haynes told host Taylor Rooks. "I was told they're looking for size and athleticism. You look at the Warriors -- rebounding and blocked shots, they're in the bottom half of the league. And points in the paint, they are dead last. So, they are looking for an athletic center.

"And so, sources have relayed to me that a list of targets are Daniel Gafford in Dallas, Brooklyn, Nic Claxton, and Portland, Robert Williams. Those are three names that are on the Golden State Warriors' list of targets to try to bring in a rim-running, block-shot defender. And listen, I was told that they are really serious. They're trying to do everything they can to try to get the team back to being of the caliber of a championship-contending type caliber."

Golden State is currently ninth in the Western Conference standings. The Warriors are 13-15, trying to snap a three-game losing streak, and have gone 4-6 in their last 10 tilts.

Adding a player of Williams' profile could address the struggles spelled out by Haynes. The former Celtics center has played in 17 of the Trail Blazers' 27 contests. He is averaging 5.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 15.6 minutes while almost exclusively coming off the bench.

The Shreveport, Louisiana, native, who recently turned 28, is on an expiring $13.3 million contract. Perhaps Portland, which is one spot behind Golden State in the standings, would prefer to parlay him into draft capital and or a player more likely to remain in the Pacific Northwest beyond the current campaign.

Sending Williams to the Warriors would reunite him with another former Celtics center, Al Horford. While the latter's departure to the Bay Area hasn't gone as he envisioned so far, he would surely welcome the reunion.

Williams and Horford teamed up in Boston's front court to engineer arguably the most impressive in-season turnaround in league history. In 2022, the duo's versatility helped the Celtics' defense evolve into a lockdown unit akin to Alcatraz.

That vaulted the team from 11th in the standings in January to a second-place finish in the East. Boston went on to represent the conference in the NBA Finals. The Celtics came within two wins of lifting the Larry O'Brien Trophy. The team that ended their Cinderella run and celebrated their latest championship on the TD Garden parquet? The Warriors.

Even with the unpredictable and rapid nature of player movement around the league, who would've thought that four years after facing Golden State in the Finals, two members of Boston's core at the time could reunite alongside Draymond Green and Stephen Curry? It's a testament to how quickly life moves in the NBA.