Ex-Boston Celtics max contract holder wouldn't start if traded to NBA's hottest team

Clipperhaulics's Will Eudy doesn't see Los Angeles Clippers head coach Ty Lue making any changes to his rotation if his team were to make a move for former Boston Celtics max contract holder and current Charlotte Hornets 15 PPG scorer Gordon Hayward.

"Hayward has been a staple for Charlotte at small forward in all four of his seasons there, only coming off the bench one time in 168 games," Eudy prefaced befoe saying, "The Clippers currently appear to feel pretty strongly about keeping their starters together given the consistency they have built, so this is likely another situation where Hayward would be forced to come off the bench if he were to end up in LA."

Don't fix what's not broken. The five-man lineup of James Harden-Terance Mann-Paul George-Kawhi Leonard-Ivica Zubac, which has been the team's most played starting lineup since PG and the Klaw arrived in the summer of 2019, has helped propel the team to a 23-13 record after a 3-7 start. Upending that for a player who, despite being highly productive, is on the wrong side of 30 and hasn't proven healthy in over six years doesn't sound like a championship move on paper.

Gordon Hayward's reason for why 2018-19 Boston Celtics didn't work isn't hurting Clippers anymore

Hayward told Paul George and Co. on the "Podcast P" show that the 2018-19 Celtics had "too many agendas," which was why the team ultimately flamed out of the postseason in the second round.

“We all had too many agendas,” Hayward told fellow NBA star Paul George on the “Podcast P” show (h/t NESN). “The agenda to win the whole thing was not the main one. Not to blame anyone, either. It’s all human nature.

"There was too many of us in the exact same position. We all needed the ball. We all rocked with the ball."

You'd think that exact reasoning is why the Clippers, who have former MVP Russell Westbrook coming off the bench, isn't working. But again, check their current record and net rating with their post-Harden lineup.

Lue may yet successfully navigate another star-studded team to the mountaintop after coaching LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and J.R. Smith to an NBA Championship in 2016.