After completing a three-team trade with Chicago and Washington that sent Moritz Wagner and Luke Kornet to Boston, the Celtics are expected to waive a player to pursue a veteran big man on the buyout market, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic, who says Kornet would likely be the odd man out.
However, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) hears that there are no immediate plans to drop Kornet. As Himmelsbach explains, since Daniel Theis is now a Bull and Tristan Thompson remains sidelined due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the Celtics may need some extra depth at the five in the short term.
Himmelsbach’s report makes sense — whether Kornet remains on the roster for another day, another week, or the rest of the season, the Celtics will owe him the same amount of money, so the logical move would be to hang onto him until the team lines up a deal with a free agent center.
Of course, there’s no guarantee anything will materialize on the buyout market, but the Celtics intend to weigh all the options, as Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said today (Twitter link via Keith Smith of RealGM).
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- Within his Athletic story linked above, Weiss suggests that Thursday’s series of moves provide further evidence that Celtics ownership is reluctant to green-light a “long-term deep dive” into luxury tax territory.
- Ainge assured Marcus Smart that the team wasn’t shopping him and that his name only came up in trade rumors prior to the deadline because he was being brought up by teams interested in him, a source tells Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald (Twitter link). Smart was rumored to be part of the club’s trade talks with Orlando, but ultimately stayed put.
- Having previously stated that he preferred not to use the Celtics’ massive trade exception on a player with an expiring contract, Ainge explained on Friday to reporters that he felt comfortable committing a significant chunk of that TPE toward Evan Fournier because he’s hopeful the veteran wing will remain in Boston beyond this season (Twitter links via Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston). Ainge also said part of the reason he wanted to land an impact scorer like Fournier was that he sensed internal discouragement and wanted the players and coaches to “feel hope” (Twitter link via Forsberg).
- The trade of Theis will free up a bigger role for Robert Williams going forward, according to Ainge, who said the third-year big man has been the club’s best defensive center this season (Twitter links via Smith).
- Ainge said that Wagner and Kornet could join the Celtics as soon as today, while Fournier could report to the team in Oklahoma City this weekend. Additionally, the hope is that Thompson and Romeo Langford will be available at some point next week (Twitter links via Forsberg).
Way to go Ainge. You chose to trade for Fournier & Mo Wagner rather than to man up and offer a good deal for Vucevic! I’m sure the celtics fans appreciate how you have truly lost it from a managerial standpoint!
The Celtics are toast this season. No sense giving up a bunch of firsts for two more years of Vucevic. It’s different for the Bulls. They did it because getting Vucevic makes them relevant for the first time in years, but it doesn’t make them a contender.
Don’t get me wrong, Ainge has done a poor job this year, but trading firsts for Vucevic would have done nothing to get them past Philly, Brooklyn or the Bucks.
Boston’s 1st are useless to Boston: Ainge can’t draft useful players beyond #6 so they have more value to be other teams who have GM’s who better assess talent. They could trade all their 1st for the next 5 years and would never miss them, but if they would bring better established players, they should be used in trades.
Wow! I think late first rounders Robert Willams was a pretty good pick after 6. So was Payton Pritchard. Grant Williams is not a bad late rounder. It is too soon to tell with Langford and Nesmith but they have promise. I understand the disappointment in the start but celtics were a conference finalist last year. Only four teams in the league can claim that. Celtics are fortunate to have Ainge and Stevens despite the current record. The future led by Tatum and Brown is still very bright.
Agree. Not my take but Vucevic is 30 years old. Getting his best season when they’re not going deep anyway would be a waste. Then Celtics are stuck with him on the decline.
I also like Williams getting more minutes. He has star potential (as long as he stays healthy).
And what do you know, Danny drafted him at 27…
Also guessing this means Ainge couldn’t/didn’t pony up for Gordon, either.
With Fournier? That whole roster just became at risk for some sore ligaments or some planter fasciitis
Even if Celtics matched the Bulls offer I would much rather get the Bulls draft picks than the Celtics he got Fournier for just pennies 2 2nds is nothing
Ainge needs to be fired if he thinks this team is competitive.
Every year not trading smart, he loses trade value. It would have been best to trade smart to GS for minn pick..
Thompson was a terrible Signing and he wasted another draft pick on a player never to play.
I can’t stand Ainge anymore. Time for him to go
“Sensed internal discouragement” lol understatement of the year.
That said, going deep in the playoffs != winning a championship. Until then you guys are entitled to nothing! Get out there and play. No one on this team should be waiting for a superstar to come save them.
Danny needs the boot. Bring your boy stevens with you.
So he comes out and says he doesn’t think the roster is championship material, and then questions that the players don’t have self confidence?
These are grown men. If a single comment from the GM ruins your self confidence for an entire season maybe professional sports aren’t for you.
This new generation of players born in the 90s aren’t built like Magic,Jordan,Kobe era. They are mentally weak crybabies….
So players and coaches want to feel hope. Interesting pull. Not sure what to do about that and not sure what Fournier is like that might affect that. So why did I post. Why bother with
Wagner is good with the ball and should be effective in Stevens’ positionless BB scheme.