I love the draft, the offseason, and the trade deadline. Playing couch GM is one of my favorite pastimes. So this is usually a very exciting time of year. However, I don’t know if there has been a time when I’ve been more happy with my team’s roster. So I’m likely to be pleasantly bored by the whole thing. Still, it is Brad’s job to always be thinking ahead and maintaining a growth mentality.
So I thought I’d lay down some trade season groundwork. Let’s start with the easy stuff.
Here’s a comprehensive list of players the Celtics will not be trading under any circumstances. I’ll even put them in the order in which they will never be traded in, …if that makes sense. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong.
- Jayson Tatum
- Jaylen Brown
- Derrick White
- Jrue Holiday
- Payton Pritchard – one of the best contracts in the league at this point
- Al Horford
- Kristaps Porzingis – only this low because of his short term contract and injury concerns
- Sam Hauser
- Luke Kornet – has a no trade clause
I’m drawing the line there though. Anyone else on the roster could be traded. Of course you won’t be bringing back any large contracts because the biggest contract you could trade (after excluding the list above) is Jaden Springer’s $4M.
But before we get into that, let’s look at some fun 2nd apron restrictions. (also covered here)
As a 2nd apron team, the Celtics cannot send out two or more aggregated salaries together (so they can’t stack smaller salaries to bring back a more expensive player). They also can’t send out cash in a trade (some teams use this to incentivize the other team to take on more salary).
It gets worse, too. Boston can only take back 100 percent or less of the salary that they send out in a deal. Typically, non-tax paying teams have some wiggle room and can take back 125% (plus $250K) of outgoing salaries. The Celtics can’t go over by one cent.
Ok, so what can the Celtics actually do?
The Boston Celtics can currently trade their own first round picks in the following drafts:
The San Antonio Spurs have the right to swap 1st round picks with the Celtics in the 2028 draft (as part of the Derrick White trade). The Celtics also owe a 2029 first round pick to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Additionally, the Celtics can currently trade the following second-round draft picks:
- 2024 second round draft pick from Dallas
- 2025 second round draft pick from Washington, Golden State, Dallas or Detroit
- 2026 second round draft pick from Minnesota, New York, New Orleans or Portland (most favorable)
- 2027 second round draft pick from Portland or New Orleans
Ok, but what will they most likely do?
I could see the Celtics trading Jaden Springer and a pick for a player that is more likely to play down the stretch this season. Then again, if they like their depth, I could see them trading Springer just to get some tax relief. Perhaps including a pick or perhaps brining back a cheaper player.
Don’t expect a deal to be made any time soon though. I would assume that they’ll wait till the deadline to see if there are any short term injuries to account for.
Fine, but can we at least sign buy-out free agents?
The 2nd apron limits the Celtics here as well. Under the new rules, if a player makes more than the mid-level exception and gets an in-season buyout, the Celtics are ineligible to sign them. So for example, if Ben Simmons were released tomorrow, the Celtics wouldn’t be able to sign him (even if they wanted to).
Bottom line: I would expect any trades or signings to be of the very minor variety this season (unless there’s some game-changing injury that changes the fundamental equation in ways that nobody wants). Yes, that’s kind of boring from a transaction perspective, but a huge blessing that we should be thankful for.
