The Celtics are exploring the idea of moving Al Horford, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic, who says the team is in the market for another center at this year’s trade deadline.
Horford’s trade value will likely be limited. The 35-year-old has been Boston’s starting center this season and is averaging 10.8 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 3.6 APG in 36 games (29.0 MPG), but his .442 FG% is a career low and his 3PT% (.285) has dropped significantly. He’s also earning $27MM, a cap figure that won’t be palatable for some clubs.
As Weiss observes, Horford’s $26.5MM salary for 2022/23 is only partially guaranteed (for $14.5MM), which could appeal to teams looking to move a longer-term contract. Still, it’s hard to imagine Boston getting positive value for the veteran big man.
According to Weiss, the Celtics have been “surprisingly open” to discussing both Horford and Josh Richardson, both of whom were acquired during the 2021 offseason. Dennis Schröder, another offseason addition, has also been repeatedly mentioned as a trade candidate, and Weiss confirms that league sources consider the point guard to be available.
The Celtics are believed to be seeking another impact play-maker to complement Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, says Weiss. However, it may be a challenge to put together a package for such a player without relying heavily on draft assets. Due to their uneven development, former lottery picks like Romeo Langford and Aaron Nesmith don’t have as much trade value as they would have earlier in their careers.
At 23-22, the Celtics are currently the No. 10 seed in the East, hanging onto a play-in spot. Although they’ll likely approach the trade deadline as buyers, it remains to be seen whether the C’s are capable of making any noise in the playoffs. Weiss says multiple people in the locker room have suggested there’s a “lack of desperation” present, with attempts at vocal leadership from players like Brown, Marcus Smart, and Grant Williams sometimes being tuned out.
Is there a NBA team who has done less with all the talent and picks they have had?
Good question. Underachieving for years now…
And therein lies the problem with what OKC and HOU are trying to do with the Danny Ainge approach. You’re more likely to miss than hit with a mid-late 1st/2nd rounder. Contrast that with a high lottery pick like Tatum … I’m surprised by how much teams cling to swapping 2nd rounders, when at the end of the day, a team with multiple of those picks ends up selling them for cash, trading them for future 2nds, or using it on a longshot draft and stash Euro player.
You can’t compare the Celtics to OKC and their strategy. OKC has to draft or trade for stars as a small market team. They don’t have the luxury of signing players like Hayward or Horford or Ray Allen in their primes. They don’t get guys like Garnett to want to be traded to them.
Ainge messed up because he did the Brooklyn trade and the Fultz and Tatum trade where he won each deal in a landslide and refused to make any big moves aside from that (trading a broken Isaiah Thomas in his last year for Irving isn’t a big swing). He could have tried to trade for players like Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, or Anthony Davis, but refused. If Presti gets the chance to trade for a star he won’t make that mistake.
Certainly there is
Yeah, you can look at OKC back when they first moved from Seattle, the Magic in the 90s, the Bulls in the 90s, the Nuggets, the Grizzlies, the Sixers, the Warriors, San Antonio over their run, Cleveland right now.
There are a few, the Clippers
The New Orleans Pelicans
No
True…and i still remenber everybody praising Dany Ainge like if he was the GOAT of GM’s.
Then again, its really Celtics fault that Kyrie spitted on then?
lol they legit drafted Jaylen and Tatum. what more can you do with picks. they went all in on Kyrie and didnt work out but at least they tried unlike most teams. Only mistake is not getting more vets for cheap like Lakers did when they won
They have had 8 first round picks since taking brown in 2016. The only two hits were Tatum and brown. Coincidentally, both were top 3 picks. Pritchard, g Williams, nesmith, Langford, and yabusele were huge misses. Robert Williams was a solid pickup. Are any of them even considered good rotation players besides Robert williams? Going 2-5-1 on 1st round draft selections is pretty poor.
They got 2 young stars, but they pissed off Kyrie, wasted Hayward and let him leave for nothing, let Horford initially leave for no return, and never took a swing for a 3rd star.
Luke, you should do a write up on players with undesirable contracts that teams would like to move. (Wall, Westbrook, Horford, Love, Tobias, Hield, etc.)
I’d like to include Fournier in that article.
Why do the writers covering the team refuse to mention maybe trading Smart?Why not add Smart to Horford and see what you can get,or at least trade Smart.
Probably everyone other than Brown and Tatum should be available….or at least discussed to gauge value.
They cannot trade Smart. He signed the early extension so they can’t trade him until the offseason.
They can trade him starting January 25th
That’s not quite right… Smart becomes available on January 25th. It’s basically 6 months after the extension was signed for a veteran extension that increased his pay more than 5% and/or is longer than 3 years.
C.Wood and Myles Turner are available…how many picks do Celtics want to throw around?
Vuc for Al straight up. I’d do it
I can’t tell if you’re serious, but just on the off chance that you are… Vuc is four years younger than Horford, makes 3 mil less per season over the next two seasons and he averages five more points and four more rebounds than Horford per game. The biggest hole on the Bulls right now is rebounding and you want to trade the Bulls best rebounder for a 35 year old whose numbers have fallen off a cliff this year?
The Bulls need a big, but I wouldn’t go in this direction. If he made 10 mil, sure. It’d be a low risk depth add. But 27 mil for his production? No way.
Drafting has NOT been the issue for the Celtics since Stevens came aboard. Below are the first round success stories:
Olynyk (draft day deal)
Smart
Rozier
Brown
Tatum
R. Williams
G. Williams
Thybulle (draft day trade away)
Pritchard
Bane (draft day trade away)
The 1st rounders that didn’t work out or haven’t to this point:
Nogueira
Young
Yabusele
Zizic
Langford
Nesmith
With the exception of Ojeleye, and Nadar all other 9 2nd rounders haven’t contributor anything of significance.
The Celtics issues are related to who they are bringing in as premier free agents.
Horford – ok
Irving – bust (mental health)
Heyward – bust (physical health)
Walker – bust (physical health)
When you look back at, the Celtics should have resigned Rozier and Horford rather than signing Kemba in the ‘19 offseason.
BOS seems more concerned with next year’s cap and tax space than improving this year’s team. Might be the logical approach, but only if they intend to truly remake the roster (and that means moving one of Tatum or Brown) in the off season. If not, this is their team (for better or worse): two (young, but pretty much developed) stars, both wings, no cap space, no room under the tax line, no projected lottery picks, etc. If these two stars can lead a championship roster, then there’s not reason they can’t do it this year or at least come close this year with the current group as improved by prioritizing this year.