Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz believes the Boston Celtics should consider an Andre Drummond deal before the upcoming trade deadline, with the assets being used to acquire the former All-NBA big merely being two future second-round draft picks.
The Celtics don't have many weaknesses at 15-4 overall and won't want to part with any of their core members in a trade," Swartz prefaced before saying, "This likely means a small addition or two at the deadline, if anything gets done at all. Boston only ranks 17th overall in offensively rebounding (28.5 percent), however, and will have to keep on eye on the usage of Kristaps Porziņģis (durability) and Al Horford (37 years old) all season long.
"Drummond could be a buy-low option, as his $3.3 million salary fits into a $6.2 million trade exception created by the Grant Williams sign-and-trade. Drummond's 20.7 offensive rebound percentage would rank No. 1 in the NBA if he had enough minutes to qualify."
Andre Drummond repeatedly tabbed as a buy-low Boston Celtics trade target
This was not the first time a Bleacher Reporter writer linked Drummond to the Celtics. On November 21, B/R's Zach Buckley called Drummond a player the Cs can land without trading much.
"If the Celtics don't want to pay much for interior depth, (Drummond) could be their guy," Buckley wrote. "His perimeter limitations at both ends hurt his value in the modern game, but he's still an active rebounder who can finish around the basket and protect the paint.
"He could be the kind of player Boston acquires to keep behind emergency glass. If this team faces a low-post bruiser in the playoffs—several could wind up on this club's road to a title—it might get more mileage out of Drummond than Kornet in that matchup. That insurance alone would justify Drummond's trade cost, which would be minimal."
The Drummond-to-Boston agenda is on in full force over at Bleacher Report, but is it something the Celtics should truly desire?
Andre Drummond a slam-dunk Boston Celtics buy-low trade target
Oh for sure.
Kristaps Porzingis has had two legs worth of injuries just in the short time he's been in Boston, and it was during his New York Knicks tenure in 2018 when the Latvian star suffered his worst career injury: his ACL. Al Horford, for as great as he's filled in, is 37 years old and can't play during back-to-backs.
To preserve the energy of Boston's other stars, guys like Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday who pick up the slack on the boards, Drummond and his 10.7 rebounds per-36 minutes in 2023-24 would be ideal for the C's underwhelming second unit frontcourt rotation.