Steve Bulpett checks in from his new gig at Heavy.com to give us some updates on the Boston Celtics ahead of the NBA trade deadline. He reports that they have been “extremely active” and want to build around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
At this stage, sources are indicating that first-year head of basketball operations Brad Stevens is at the very least looking to unload some salary cap burden (as he did in moving Juancho Hernangomez last week) and clear a path for Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith and Romeo Langford to get more playing time.
The first two of the latter trio were essentially buried when the Celtics acquired Schroder and Richardson in the offseason.
There’s been no secret that the Celtics could (and probably should) find a trade to move Schroder for whatever they can get for him. The above report makes it sound like there’s a willingness to cash in on the good season Josh Richardson has had to date as well.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see Al Horford be included in a deal either. He’s not exactly blocking anyone’s playing time, but his contract and age don’t necessarily fit into the team’s long term plans (unless there’s a plan for how to move him this offseason).
We’ve been down this road before, with rumblings of the Celtics being “very active” ahead of the trade deadline (with mixed results). The difference is that now it is Brad Stevens running the show and not Danny Ainge. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out.
