The Celtics may have been quiet on draft night, but they’re making noise now. After agreeing to trade Tristan Thompson for the Hawks’ Kris Dunn and Bruno Fernando and sending Moses Brown to the Mavericks for Josh Richardson, the Celtics have given themselves some extra flexibility from both a financial and roster perspective, writes The Athletic’s Jared Weiss.
Evan Fournier‘s market seems to be in the range of $12-$20MM per year, according to Weiss, who points out that dealing for Richardson affords the Celtics the option of walking away if the bidding war gets too rich for them. It sounds like that’s a very realistic possibility, as Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald hears from a source that Boston is unwilling to meet Fournier’s asking price of $80MM over four years.
“It’s not looking good,” Murphy’s source said of the Celtics’ negotiations with Fournier.
Meanwhile, there’s no guarantee that the Celtics will hang onto Dunn, according to Weiss, who says the former lottery pick could be flipped again. Weiss suggests that two viable options for dealing Dunn could be to the Cavaliers – along with one of the Celtics’ young players – in a deal for Larry Nance Jr., or to the Pelicans – with Marcus Smart – in a Lonzo Ball sign-and-trade.
We have more rumors on the Celtics:
- According to Weiss, while Thompson was beloved by teammates, he butted heads with the coaching staff and the organization throughout the year and was widely expected to be moved this offseason.
- In the same piece, Weiss cites The Athletic’s Danny Leroux, who explains that the Celtics now project to be about $4.36MM below the tax line if Jabari Parker (who has a non-guaranteed contract) is waived.
- The Celtics wanted to send more guaranteed money to the Mavericks in the Josh Richardson deal, but Dallas initially didn’t want to take any money back, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Moses Brown was the compromise found, given the low guarantee on his deal ($500K).
- Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated tweets that the Celtics’ front office, especially Brad Stevens, has long been a fan of Richardson, who will be looking to get back on track in Boston after a down year in Dallas.
Fournier market value
4 year $64 million
I’d sign and trade Fournier/young player picks to Cavs for Nance and Sexton
No Richardson please
Richardson is a done deal. He’s not going anywhere.
Brad Stevens has been a fan of Richardson for a while so I will be very surprise and be very shock if Richardson is inducted in any other trades Steven make
There’s not a lot of options at point guard for Boston…. maybe Sexton or Satoransky, Lou Williams, or Schroeder.
Dinwiddie
Just play Marcus Smart at point, trade Dunn and a young player for Rondo to return and have Pritchard as the third option. That would give you plenty of options
Sexton would be a perfect fit.
Dunn and Smart for Ball? I’ll do that.
Trade Dunn and a young player for Rondo.
Then personally I’d go hard for RoCo or Nurkic using JRich and a young player. If you could get either of these guys that would be really solid.
Plus make sure you have a little bit of money left over to spend on making up some bench players
Fournier made 17.5 look last yr. Why is he taking less. Where do they get that number 12-18 mill. He avg 20 pts. And just scorched the Dream Team for 40. He’s not getting less than 18 mill. Knicks should sign him for 4 yrs 75-80 mill. Done
I am not a fan of Fournier. He is a liability in defense and disappears a lot in important games. I rather the knicks get powel or Dinwiddie Or ball for that money
Moses Brown is a promising center and Brad Stevens just showed he’s not a capable talent evaluator. Good thing that Knicks or Boston will sign Fournier because that contract will be garbage once the ink is dried.
My first thought when they got Richardson was about how Brad Steven’s has always been a big fan of him, and spoken glowingly, for obvious reasons, about him over the years, especially when he was with the Heat. I would still be surprised if he doesnt opt out though.
This might be obvious, but it’s really looking like we’re about to see a crazy amount of turnover in the next few days across the league.
Rondo’s value as a bench cheerleader is hardly worth a promising young player, though he shoots marginally better than Dunn. But, he’s a true PG, and they are lacking that. RR should be at the end of their list, as they badly need bench scoring. I’d rather see what Langford and Nesmith do to get better before using them as throw-ins.