Should Boston kick the tires on Alec Burks?

With former Memphis exec John Hollinger hearing the Boston Celtics might be looking for a wing, should they consider the Golden State Warriors’ Alec Burks?

With the Boston Celtics continuing to outperform expectations despite a number of injuries to key players, it’s getting easier to think of the team as a move away from serious contention.

And much of the speculation on what that move might be has tended to focus on Boston’s frontcourt, for good reason.

After losing  do-everything All-Star big Al Horford to the Philadelphia 76ers this summer, the team has been operating their frontcourt as big-man-by-committee, deploying a variety of skill sets belonging to several different frontcourt players depending on the teams and lineups in front of them.

Recently, however, former Memphis vice president of basketball operations John Hollinger shared some tasty tidbits from an anonymous source who believed the Celtics might make a deal — but for a wing, not a big man.

Pointing out the difficulties to landing an impact big without trading one of their key players on a team with success built on the strength of wing play, Hollinger’s source notes the significant drop-off after the team’s most talented such players as a potential injury disaster for playoff aspirations.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, rumbles have been forthcoming about the future of shooting guard Alec Burks with the Golden State Warriors.

The often-injured wing has been having something of a renaissance with the very-injured Warriors, the extended absence of Warriors stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson creating plenty of playing time to showcase the 28-year-old shooting guard.

Burks won’t require too much draft capital to land, given his age and injury history, but even with those issues he could fit the bill of what Boston might be looking for just the same.

The Colorado product is showing that, with 15.9 points, 4.5 boards and 3.1 assists per game he’s able to step up in case of emergency to fill a scoring role with a team.

Moreover, shooting 35.5 % from three and 47.6 from two in 29.5 minutes per game. he’s demonstrating that he could be an efficient depth player for Boston, where he’d likely avoid injury in a smaller role with the team barring the sort of disaster he’d be insurance against.

Making $2.3 million per year, he’d be an easy trade target in terms of cap restraints, with almost any player near the end of the Celtics’ rotation being in range for salary matching purposes.

Boston could have competition, though — as reflected in these comments from an anonymous NBA scout (via NBC Bay Area’s Monte Poole): “He’s healthy, he’s playing very well and he’s cheap … That makes him very attractive to teams that believe they need one more piece, a guy who can come off the bench and give them something.”

A natural scorer, he’s fifth among bench players in that skill in the league, and arguably the best with any realistic chance of moving, with players like Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams already attached to contending teams.

While the 6-foot-6 Missouri native doesn’t want to leave the Bay area this season, there’s a growing consensus his days there are limited.

Could his next stop be in Boston? We’ll know by the end of the first week of February, if not sooner.