Given his age and who he was traded for, it might be tough for Paul George to endear himself to the Boston Celtics fanbase. However, he did the team a solid by waiving his trade kicker. That saves the Celtics quite a few dollars, which is especially important in this day and age, given how strict the NBA's tax restrictions are.
Not to mention, it makes it quite possible for the Celtics to get Trey Murphy III if they are serious about getting their hands on him.
Yes, they can get Murphy, but trading for him is not that simple. Boston now has some appealing draft assets that would certainly grab New Orleans' attention thanks to the Jaylen Brown trade. That's fair, as Murphy is both a quality starter and a scorer who would give Boston an excellent front seven with him, George, Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Neemias Queta, and Mitchell Robinson.
However, a trade would actually be complicated and not just because of what the Pelicans would demand. To make the contracts work, Boston would have string together a package like this just to get Murphy on the team:
-Sam Hauser (who New Orleans would likely re-route elsewhere)
-Dalano Banton (Pelicans would waive him immediately)
-Hugo Gonzalez (Keep reading)
-Chris Cenac Jr. (PLEASE keep reading)
And note that Murphy would have to absorbed into the $27.7 million Anfernee Simons TPE to make it work.
Yeah... that might be a little too high
They wouldn't be trading Gonzalez and Cenac just because New Orleans would ask, but because it fits within the confines of the CBA. For the record, the Pelicans absolutely would have to ask for those two because of their value as young pieces (and Boston can't trade Cenac until August 4), but Boston would have to include them if they wanted to match the contracts.
That's because teams can't aggregate multiple veterans' minimum-salary contracts in big trades like these. Only one can be included, and Banton's is the most expensive, is team-friendly, and he's the most expendable player on the roster. Gonzalez's and Cenac's rookie contracts are also more expensive than Baylor Scheierman and Jordan Walsh.
Regardless, yeah, that seems like a little too much for Murphy. Stevens' rationale for a trade like this would be that he believes Murphy would elevate Boston so high to the point that would it be worth devastating that much of their depth.
That was the rationale he had when he traded for Jrue Holiday, and look how that turned out. But it's not the same situation, as that only came at the cost of two players. If Boston pulls the trigger on that specific deal, they would then have to look for more players who can help.
All of this may point to the Murphy dream being dead, but not necessarily Boston's hopes of adding another impact player.
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