Who would make for an ambitious trade target for the Boston Celtics that actually makes sense this season? With the Celtics squarely in contention mode as one of the NBA’s so-called “second apron” ball clubs due to their stacked, expensive roster, making deals for Boston is especially onerous by design. Operating under a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that forces teams like the Celtics to operate under difficult salary matching rules makes such swaps harder to pull off than ever. But the right candidate would be on a cheap deal, meets the needs of the team as it currently stands, and is at least plausible for all parties.
Enter Bleacher Report NBA analyst Andy Bailey, who thinks he has a player who ticks off all those benchmarks for the Celtics. “This is a tricky exercise for the Boston Celtics,” he himself admits in a nod to those tricky second apron restrictions. “They don’t have any roster needs,” notes the B/R league analyst, though he undersells the potential shakiness of Boston’s frontcourt.
“They just won the title,” adds Bailey. “And a massive shake-up involving one of their big-money rotation players doesn’t make any sense. So, ‘ambitious’ takes on a little different meaning for Boston. In this team’s case, which doesn’t really need to do anything, simply upgrading the 10th or 11th man in the rotation could be the only realistic move on the table.”
“If the Miami Heat get off to a slow start and move Jimmy Butler (who didn’t sign an extension this summer), they may start unloading other veterans, as well,” he suggests. “Kevin Love is a floor-spacer with championship experience who’d fit Boston’s culture and 3-point-heavy offense.”
It would not be the first time Boston fans welcomed the possibility of a Kevin Love deal to the Celtics, and given his low salary and potential to help hold up a somewhat thin frontline while the team awaits the return of Kristaps Porzingis, it’s not out of the question that a deal like this could be in the cards if things break right.
Ambitious to hope for, perhaps — but that was the point of the exercise.
