By: Chuddy | 8 PM |
We knew going into the season that the Celtics’ roster was pretty much set, and barring some unforeseen circumstances, the only moves would be made on the margins. Still, the Celtics have made their way into a number of trade rumors over the past few days as we race towards the Thursday, February 8th trade deadline at 3 PM EST.
By far the team’s best path to upgrade is the $6.25 million trade exception created by shipping Grant Williams to Dallas last summer. That doesn’t offer up much wiggle room, as there are only a handful of useful players who may be available, and make $6.25 million or under this season.
There is a world where the Celtics could combine bench players like Pritchard, Banton, Svi, Stevens, and others to add up to the matching salary of a player making $10-15 million, but that strikes me as incredibly unlikely for many reasons.
I compiled a long list of players who the Celtics may target at the deadline using the TPE, and sure enough, those players’ names are starting to be connected to the Celtics in rumors. First, yesterday we saw Michael Scotto of HoopsHype suggesting that Andre Drummond of the Bulls could be a target for Boston, and today Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reported that the Celtics have one of my favorite targets, Lonnie Walker IV on their radar.
Walker is a 25-year-old journeyman, playing for the Nets on a one-year minimum deal. He’s big for a guard and could help the Celts in matchups where Pritchard seems overmatched. Lonnie can score in bunches and has been filling it up off the bench this season. He’s playing just 18 minutes a game off the bench (his fewest since 2019-20) but is making the most of his playing time, averaging 12 points a night on almost 45% three-point shooting.
He could provide a much-needed burst of shooting and scoring for the Celtics bench and could come in and create his own offense immediately. Lonnie is a great athlete and can hold his own on defense, but most of all he’s a guy you can throw the ball to, and he’ll get you a bucket. I’m not saying he’s a star, but he is the kind of player who could come in and swing a quarter of a playoff game - as he did last year for the Lakers.
The Nets have zero reason to hold Walker past the deadline, and making just over $2 million this year, he’d easily fit into the Celtics’ TPE. They could likely add a 2nd round pick or two and get this done, no problem. In fact, the Celtics could afford to fit BOTH Walker and Drummond, to bolster their bench on the inside and outside. If this is doable, I expect Brad and Mike to get it done.
Photo Credit: Errol Anderson
