“What’s Danny doing?”
That’s the question most critics ask when it comes to the big plan to bring the Celtics back to true contender status.
The answer, according to Woj… he’s trying to build his own super-team.
For salary-cap purposes, Boston wants a Hayward commitment before it can finalize a trade for George and secure the most dynamic free-agent coup in franchise history, league sources said.
For Boston, here’s the hitch: While Indiana believes Boston can offer the best possible package, the Pacers may be unwilling to wait until the start of July free agency on Boston’s timetable and could turn toward making a deal elsewhere for George, league sources told The Vertical.
Boston has maneuvering to do with its roster, including the shedding of salaries to create space to position itself for this scenario. Boston has contingencies in place to make deals and start a possible Hayward-George scenario toward fruition, league sources told The Vertical.
This is going to be intensely difficult, and it would almost certainly cost the Celtics either Jaylen Brown or Jayson Tatum (hold off on those “Rainin’ Jays” shirts for a minute) as well as Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, and a bunch of those draft picks we’ve seen Ainge hold onto for so long.
HOWEVER….
While this deal does illustrate an aggressive Danny Ainge willing to push his chips to the middle of the table… there’s one paragraph that gives me pause…
The Celtics have a growing confidence they could sign George to a contract extension, and keep him from leaving to his predetermined free-agent destination of the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources told The Vertical. Boston’s belief that it can make George more than a one-year rental is fueling the franchise’s willingness to part with a significant package of assets, league sources said.
Remember what we said about silly season?
Consider this….
The Indiana Pacers had all their leverage stripped when George came to them and said he’s leaving and he wants to go to Los Angeles. No team, Boston included, will be willing to give up a palatable package of assets in this situation if they knew they’d be getting one year out of a player in exchange for many years of possibly good-to-great players.
The only way to regain the upper hand is to create a bidding war. The Pacers have the Boston Celtics, eager to make a move and flush with assets, playing hardball knowing (a) most teams don’t have their assets and even the couple that do (b) can’t recover from a rental bolting like Boston might with its bevy of future picks. The Lakers, theoretically, can just sit back and take a calculated risk that George is coming no matter what, and all they’ll need to get him is cap space.
Unless, that is, if the Lakers think Boston can put together a formidable enough team to challenge Golden State now and clear enough room to make George’s financial decision a lot easier. Now, the specter of watching a(nother) superstar with LA roots win titles for your arch rival might be enough to shake some assets from the Lakers’ tree.
The Pacer might not even necessarily WANT what the Lakers have to offer… they just have to be the auctioneer that entices a reluctant bid from someone in the back to get Ainge to raise his paddle a couple more times.
Ainge, no doubt, is trying to be “Fleecer Danny” again. I have no doubt that he WANTS to put a team out there that will usurp Cleveland’s status as the East’s clear favorite without giving up the potential for switching to a team led by mid-20-somethings ready to take the baton in this championship-contender relay.
But the Pacers are undoubtedly trying to raise the stakes by drawing the Lakers out of their shell to start bidding and restore the leverage Paul George stole.
Free agency begins on Saturday, so expect a lot of this type of maneuvering before players can start committing to their teams.
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