Between the pandemic and election turmoil, we are living in unprecedented times. There is one constant… a wild report from The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor involving the Boston Celtics pursuit of an All-Star player:
The Celtics have offered up their three first-round picks (nos. 14, 26, and 30) in trades to try and move into the lottery, but multiple league sources say they intend to reroute that pick to the Pelicans in exchange for Jrue Holiday. If Boston is able to acquire the necessary assets, it’d still need to add salaries to make a deal work. Could that mean Gordon Hayward or Kemba Walker could be on the move? No matter the case, the Celtics are up to something big to try and bolster their title odds. If they keep the 14th pick, Hampton makes sense because he could immediately serve as a spark-plug scorer off the bench and provide long-term upside.
Wow.
The Internet is already buzzing with multiple scenarios, some sensible ones include Indiana as a 3rd team. If the Celtics are inclined to move Hayward over Walker, then:
Holiday would add some redundancy to the Celtics roster if they also kept Walker. Holiday’s overall offensive numbers match favorably to Walker, though Walker is the better scorer and 3-point shooter. Holiday’s real value would be on the defensive end, where he has been very good for his entire career, especially in 2018 and 2019 when he made the All-Defensive team.
Brian Robb reminds us that Holiday has 2 years, $53 million on his contract with the second year being a player option. And that option (the ability to become a free agent) could limit his value on the open market. It’s likely the high demand for his services might offset those concerns.
This is probably more smoke than fire, but entertaining trade rumors is a lot more fun than fretting about COVID-19, so…
https://twitter.com/Kungu_NBA/status/1326955949446328320?s=20
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