The Celtics should be in the market for center help this summer, Brian Robb of MassLive states in a mailbag column. Kristaps Porzingis is a prime candidate to be traded because of his $30.7MM salary for next season, while Al Horford and Luke Kornet are both headed to free agency. There’s no guarantee that Horford, who turned 39 earlier this month, will continue playing as Boston may take a step back from title contention in the wake of Jayson Tatum‘s Achilles tear.
Robb notes that the Celtics will miss Tatum’s rebounding prowess next season, as none of the team’s current options in the middle are particularly strong on the boards. Tatum averaged 8.7 rebounds this year, and Boston was dominated off the glass without him in its Game 6 loss to New York.
Robb adds that the Celtics will have to take back some salary in the expected deals involving Porzingis, Jrue Holiday and possibly others, so that may be an avenue to find help in the middle. Boston would be limited to veteran’s minimum offers in free agency, and Robb suggests that would involve players in the class of Mason Plumlee, Jaxson Hayes or Paul Reed.
There’s more on the Celtics:
- Steven Adams‘ new contract in Houston takes a prominent center off the free agent market and could increase the value of Horford and Kornet, Robb adds in a separate piece. Once the top names such as Myles Turner and Naz Reid are off the board, Robb suggests that Horford and Kornet could get offers at the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.7MM) or higher. The Celtics hold Bird rights on both players.
- Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins could serve as an inspiration for Tatum as he works his way back from the Achilles injury, per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Wilkins ruptured his Achilles in January of 1992 when it was considered a potential career-ending injury, but he was able to return for opening night of the 1992/93 season and averaged 29.9 PPG while finishing fifth in the MVP voting. “That injury is a serious injury,” Wilkins told Washburn. “And Jayson had the same type of injury I had, meaning he had a complete tear because there is no way you could walk off the floor. That’s a devastating injury, but the thing is the work he puts in is going to determine what he gets out of it. I worked twice a day every day for nine months and came back quicker than anybody. But it was my level of commitment and Jayson is a kid that loves the game and I have a lot of respect and am a fan of his. I have no doubt that he’s going to put in the work to get back to the same level he was.”
- Justin Quinn of Celtics Wire takes a look at all the players the team has hosted for pre-draft workouts, including prominent names such as Cedric Coward and Drake Powell. Boston has the 28th and 32nd picks in this year’s draft.
4 teams really want to reduce luxury taxes
They could sell the starters for cheap
Celtics
Cavs
Suns
Wolves
Kornet had a career year, and will be 30 years old. Anybody have an opinion on what his market will be?
Contenders looking for a cheap backup.
I can’t imagine any team overpaying him by that much but who knows with todays NBA. He could get a 3 year/30 million dollar deal.
I have Monopoly money, and lots of it, on Kormet being a Laker next season.
I’m fine with queta getting more minutes
Dallas: Jrue Holiday and the 28th overall pick
Boston: PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford
Washington: Kristaps Porzingis
Boston: Marcus Smart and the 40th overall pick
Boston save money from the KP salary dump and reload up with good depth.
White Brown Hauser Washington Gafford
Pritchard Smart … … Horford
You’re then got Walsh Scheirman Tillman Queta plus picks 32 and 40.
Tatum will return eventually
PJ and Gafford both will need extensions eventually but for now both are only 26 and really help fill the void down low and provide some athleticism. Smart helps replace Jrue and can serve as a leader for the young guys.
Plus you’ve got plenty of back ups worth developing and giving some extra minutes too.
Simmons>Russ,
You missed the storyline. The Celtics are trading away long-term contracts for expiring contracts so they can get under the cap.
Washington and Gafford are both UFA’s at the end of the season, on expiring contracts. The entire point of acquiring them for Holiday’s 3 year deal is to dump them asap, not retain them. The same applies to Smart.
Yeah you save 10mil in the smart deal and 2mil from the holiday deal. Then let Smart play out the remaining year of his deal then use that money to retain PJ and Gafford.
There are a lot of teams desperately needing guys like Gafford and Washington. Each of Them should bring a decent Player and a first rounder back to Dallas. Just Look at the Lakers Trading for Gafford.
Both for a 35 year Old pg? Funny idea.
> There are a lot of teams desperately needing guys
> like Gafford and Washington. Each of Them should
> bring a decent Player and a first rounder back to
> Dallas.
Are you aware they’re both unrestricted free agents at the end of the season? Unless Dallas signs them first, they’re not bringing back nearly that much.
I agree with you that they’re solid players, though.
You are right, but I dont think the Lakers should have a Problem to convince Gafford to stay while being the starting Center in L.A. Constantly fed for dunks by Doncic and James.
Andreas, NBA free agents sign with teams that offer their market value. Unfortunately, the Lakers currently don’t currently have the cap space to make Gafford a compelling offer.
That could change, of course. But LA doesn’t seem the likely destination for Gafford at this time, especially given how unlikely Nico calls Pelinka in the near future.
The fact that they’re on expiring deals makes them MORE desirable not less.
> The fact that they’re on expiring deals makes them
> MORE desirable not less.
To Boston, yes, but not to teams that want to retain them for more than 1 year.
Why would the Wizards take Porzingis on and give up draft capital? They have no reason to do that.
Giving up a mid second is worth bigger all
Secondly because it makes them a better side.
KP and Sarr would be a really interesting 4/5 combo. Coulibaly at the 3, Poole the 2 and then use your draft pick to get Fears to have compete with Carrington for the point guard job
They can’t acquire multiple players in a trade because of apron.
Other way round. They can’t send multiple players in same deal. They can receive them. But even so it’s rare for that rule to be an impediment. Trades can be split up.
No they can’t receive them. Please fact check.
Second-apron teams can absolutely receive multiple players in a trade. Suns getting Micic and Martin from the Hornets in exchange for Nurkic last season is one example.
@ Aristotle….storyline? Do you work in Boston’s front office? You already seem to know how they are approaching this off season. They don’t really have to trade anyone. Stories, rumours, facts? Relax….you like other GSW Warrior fans do have a Celtic hate button. Why? Not like the two have had some monster rivalry. Or were you guys lakers when San Fran sucked?
Kornet deserves better than the minimum.
Celtics have two decent picks in draft. There will be bigs there. I don’t see Kornet coming back. Al could but it would have to be at a discount.
Celtics are still a playoff team next year. Even with a Holiday trade. I don’t get all this break them up stuff. If Celtics really want to retool. Then Jalen Brown to Spurs gets it done. Barnes an expiring contract plus picks, young talent. Definitely try for Castle.
Al, the Celtics are not looking to “retool”. They’re looking to massively reduce payroll by the end of next season so that they don’t lose hundreds of millions of dollars.
Think of it as a “tear-down”, as opposed to a retool. They want their payroll to be about $40M less at the end of next season while they retain a core (that includes Tatum) to be built back up in future years.
If Tatum hadn’t been injured, the Celtics were planning to do the rebuild at the end of next season anyway. They’re just not willing to lose 100’s of millions more this season if they don’t believe they can win it all.
I don’t see Al Horford coming back to the Celtics on a punt year. I’m sure there’s a contender that could use him off the bench. He’s still pretty effective.
Luke Kornet has finally found his game at age 30. I’m not sure if a change of scenery would reduce his effectiveness or not but he’s pretty mobile and looks like he knows what he’s doing out there now.
With the need for centers, I could see the same as Darren Dreifort mentions above. Three years, 30 million?
Traders are going wild about trading, about breaking up, our beloved Celtics. No way we want to lose anyone on this team! Maybe Al or Luke will succumb to the lure of money but I doubt it. Especially not Al. He’ll retire as a player first. And Luke fits us perfectly as he should know well by now. 7′, 250 lb, 25 year old center Neemias Queta I’m not sure about as Coach hasn’t played him much but without Jason he could get his chance and control the boards if we change our style slightly. We’ll see but I fully trust Stevens to find a way thru this morass and expect another very good Celtics season straight ahead. Go Celtics!
Queta is a good player. Looking to see more of him next season.
BeachGuy2- you’re not paying attention. Listen to Brad Stevens. The Celtics have to tear down the roster this season so that they can afford to have a Championship team again in 2-3 years. Tatum, White, (probably) Brown and Pritchard will still be Celtics. But the supporting cast won’t be.
It’s because of the CBA. No team can buy greatness for more than a few years at a time.
Celtics can still be a playoff team this season, but winning takes a back seat to business for now.