It seems what Boston Celtics team president Danny Ainge is telling fans is lining up quite well with what he’s been telling other general managers in the NBA.
Namely, that the team is not interested with trading any of their core five players, according to the Boston Herald’s veteran reporter Steve Bulpett.
Those players would be point guard Kemba Walker, shooting guard Jaylen Brown, forwards Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum, and presumably do-everything guard Marcus Smart.
That leaves a fair amount of players, but earning small salaries unlikely to be aggregated into a splashy player like the Detroit Pistons’ Andre Drummond or Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kevin Love.
And of the players presumably up for grabs, the sense is that the asking price for many is fairly steep — Boston won’t be combining salaries ahead of the deadline solely to make a move they could just as easily finish over the summer.
“I don’t see [Ainge] giving away any of the other rotation guys away for cheap, either,” related an anonymous GM to Bulpett. “They’re getting good contributions from a lot of guys who are under really good contracts. You don’t want to mess with that if you don’t have to.”
Bulpett confirms Boston has indeed been on the horn regarding recently-connected Houston Rockets center Clint Capela, but the interest level is not what it had been in the past.
Just posted:
League sources say Celtics looking to support their core as trade deadline approaches… A veteran to shore up the rotation more likely than a big. https://t.co/7gPcSXP5Pi— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) February 5, 2020
As the Celtics’ president of basketball operations has made a point of emphasizing lately, the team is happy with their center rotation, meaning any inquiry into the Rockets’ rim-runner is likely more due diligence than anything else.
For now, it seems, the focus remains on incremental improvements that make sense and won’t rock the boat in terms of chemistry this team has depended on so much this season.
That could spell a dull trade deadline for Boston fans, but if the right deal isn’t on the table, sometimes the best trade to make is not making one at all.
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