Last month, Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens told media members that the team’s roster needs to improve in order to compete for an NBA championship. Stevens peppered in a few mentions of added rim pressure and dunks throughout the half-hour-long availability, too.
Trading for New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson could be a way for Boston to add those things without having to move off of Jaylen Brown like they almost certainly would in a hypothetical Giannis Antetokounmpo trade.
Williamson, who will be 26 years old at the start of the 2026-27 season, just wrapped his sixth NBA campaign with the Pelicans. He averaged 21.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game while shooting 60% from the field and 25% from deep across 62 games for New Orleans.
He was second in the NBA in rim attempts with 8.8 per outing, trailing only Antetokounmpo, who averaged 11.1. Williamson converted on 70% of his shots at the basket -- the 13th best mark of the 27 players who averaged more than five attempts.
Zion threw down 77 total dunks this past season, too. For perspective, the only Celtic who eclipsed that number was Neemias Queta, who dunked 119 times. No one else even had half as many.
The Celtics can't ignore the questions surrounding Zion
The biggest questions that surround the 2019 No. 1 overall pick are regarding his health and work ethic. Williamson missed the entire 2021-22 season, played just 29 games in 2022-23, then missed 52 games again in the 2024-25 season.
His weight issues became so taxing that the Pelicans have a “weight clause” embedded in his current contract. If his combined weight and body-fat percentage exceed a total of 295, then New Orleans, or any other team who employs Williamson, can cut down his guaranteed money.
The two-time All-Star’s official weight listing for this past season was 284lbs. He’s seemingly gotten the issue under control enough to be largely available for New Orleans over the past few seasons. His lingering hamstring issue throughout the 2024-25 campaign serves as the lone outlier.
He also doesn’t come without his defensive shortcomings.
Nonetheless, if Stevens wants dunks and rim pressure without those things coming from Giannis, as we’ve heard from multiple sources lately, then Zion is as good of an option as any.
What does that hypothetical Zion trade to the Celtics look like, though?
From a financial standpoint, the two sides could make the money work with a framework that looks like this:
Pelicans receive: Derrick White and Sam Hauser
Celtics receive: Zion Williamson
Of course, to get a deal across the finish line, the Cs would likely have to attach some draft capital -- especially considering they’d have maneuvered through the trade landscape without losing JB.
White isn’t the same level of player as Brown, but that doesn’t mean that trading him is an easy decision. The Colorado native has played an important role for Boston since arriving in February of 2022, helping the team reach a pair of NBA Finals and then capture a championship in 2024.
The Celtics would be selling low on him after an underwhelming first-round playoff series, which capped off an inefficient campaign for White.
If Boston feels like his cold shooting in the 2025-26 campaign was just a fluke, then they may hesitate to move on from the All-Defensive guard. But, if they’re more worried about him than they’re letting on, then dealing him for Williamson or another high-impact acquisition could be in their best interest.
Meanwhile, the Pelicans have no clear direction. General manager Joe Dumars has publicly said he hopes to move forward with Williamson on board, but what good does it do them, really?
He and rookie big man Derik Queen were the opposite of advanced metrics darlings. Their shared net rating was atrocious and the questions of whether or not they can be effective alongside one another are loud. If the Pelicans like Queen, then moving Zion makes sense for them, especially when adding two quality winning players in White and Hauser, along with whatever picks would be necessary to get a deal done.
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