Getty Joe Mazzulla, Boston Celtics
With the offseason rapidly approaching, Boston Celtics fans from across the world are waiting to see whether Jaylen Brown is offered a contract extension or is made available via trade.
This past season, Brown was named to the All-NBA second team, making him eligible for a supermax contract extension from the Celtics – which could be a reason they look to move on from him. With that in mind, The Ringer’s Brian Barrett recently shared a trade proposal that not only moves on from Brown but also flips the Celtics’ core rotation on its head.
The trade proposal looks like this:
Magic Get: Jaylen Brown
Raptors Get: Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, and Orlando’s 6th and 11th draft picks.
Celtics Get: Pascal Siakam, Markelle Fultz, Wendell Carter Jr, and Franz Wagner.
“From a Celtics perspective, you get another wing to replace Jaylen in Pascal Siakam, who’s a good player. You can argue the two guys; if you wanna have a debate who’s better, Jaylen had a better season,” Brian Barrett said. “I kinda like this idea for the Celtics, right? Even if I think that in a vacuum, Jaylen is a better player than Siakam, I’m also getting Wagner as part of the equation.”
By losing Brown, Smart, and Robert Williams, the Celtics would be moving on from three primary members of their core, which could alter their trajectory in the coming years.
Celtics Unlikely to Trade Payton Pritchard
However, while Barrett’s trade sees multiple members of the Celtics roster move to new teams, there is one player who may find it difficult to land in a new situation during the summer.
According to an Eastern Conference Executive who spoke with Heavy on Sports’ Sean Deveney under the condition of anonymity, it is unlikely that the Celtics move on from Payton Pritchard during the upcoming off-season.
Payton Pritchard has made it clear he hopes to be traded this summer, per @TheAthletic
“The way things have worked recently is you find that teams do not want to trade guys on their rookie contracts because you’re going to get more value by trading him after he gets that big contract bump. So they’re not going to be in a hurry to move him just to move him because they can do better by waiting,” the executive told Deveney.
Celtics Could Target Jericho Sims
Jericho Sims might be Superman
“His game doesn’t have a ton of layers to it, but he wouldn’t need many to fill a helpful backup role behind Al Horford and Robert Williams III,” Buckley wrote. “And should Sims show more growth going forward—he’s only 24 years old—he could fill a more prominent role when Horford makes that proverbial trek into the sunset.”
With the NBA season still underway, we will likely hear plenty more rumors in the coming days and weeks as everybody tries to figure out what direction Brad Stevens and the front office are going to take when building out Boston’s roster ahead of next season.