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There is less than one month remaining for the NBA trade deadline and the rumor mill around the league is starting to heat up. Trae Young’s agents are reportedly working with the Hawks to find a new home for the star guard while other rumblings continue to swirl around other bigger names on the market.
The Celtics won’t be involved in any blockbuster acquisitions in the next few weeks but they remain a team to watch amid a surprising leap to the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference this month.
There has been speculation since the summer that the team could opt to offload more salary and reduce their repeater luxury tax bill. However, one NBA insider believes the team could go the other way.
“Everyone has been penciling them in there as a salary dump team,” Zach Lowe said on his podcast Monday. “They may dump salary but I’m putting it out there, I think they may buy at the trade deadline. I think they should. They have a lot of draft assets to trade. I don’t think it’s going to be anything splashy and it may not end up adding payroll to their team.
The target in such a move would logically come in the frontcourt, according to Lowe.
“I think there’s a Simons for a big man trade, a spare parts and a pick for a big man trade,” Lowe said. “I don’t know who the team is or the player is. Would Jusuf Nurkic help their team? I don’t know. It’s going to be something unsexy like that. I think they are buying and I think they should buy.”
Nurkic is currently on an expiring deal with the Jazz earning $19.3 million in the final year of his contract. Moving Simons ($26 million) for him would allow Boston to reduce payroll while adding some additional depth to their undersized frontcourt. However, it’s worth considering whether Nurkic is much of an upgrade to the team’s frontcourt over Neemias Queta or Luka Garza, who has been terrific in the last two weeks since returning to the rotation. Nurkic is certainly the better offensive player and rebounder but his defense and effort issues wouldn’t make him a seamless fit within Joe Mazzulla’s scheme.
The degree of move Brad Stevens opts to make in the coming weeks will be fascinating to watch if Boston is intent on improving their roster. Adding a mid-tier or higher-salaried player will likely cost either Simons or Sam Hauser for salary matching purposes. Otherwise, smaller contracts could be combined for a cheaper addition (sub $8 million). Regardless, the Celtics have played well enough now where adding for the present feels likelier by the day.