What will it take for Celtics to move up on draft night?

With the 2018 NBA Draft just hours away, there is still plenty of trade talk brewing among teams up and down the draft board. Multiple reports over the past couple of days have indicated the Celtics have shown an interest in trading into the lottery ahead of Thursday evening.

League sources told Bostonsportsjournal.com that the Celtics have discussed Terry Rozier with other teams as part of a trade package to move up. The 24-year-old guard is one of several chips that the Celtics have in their war chest of assets, which includes a top-1 protected 2019 Kings pick, 2019 top-8 protected Grizzlies pick and a 2019 top-14 protected Clippers pick.

Rozier is entering the final year of his rookie contract with Boston and is scheduled to make a bargain $3 million next season. League sources indicated that the Celtics have attempted

to gauge the value of Rozier paired with a pick among teams in the lottery.

BSJ Analysis: We have pegged Rozier and Marcus Morris as potential candidates to be moved on draft night for weeks now and it appears the Celtics are wisely doing their due diligence about investigating their value in potential deals.

Boston still highly values Morris and Rozier and would be happy to enter next season with both on the roster as key reserves, which puts no pressure on Boston to make a deal unless they find a trade offer that is preferable. The availability of desired prospects in the lottery (the Celtics have had their eyes on Luka Doncic) will obviously factor in as well into what the Celtics are willing to offer as the draft progresses.

With the expected competition to move up, as well as the high demands of teams currently sitting in the top-5, it's not easy to find a match from Boston's perspective unless they are willing to use multiple valuable future first-round picks in the deal. That type of blockbuster move would reduce the team's flexibility going forward and potentially impede their ability to go after a star like Kawhi Leonard or Anthony Davis on the trade market in the future. Still, if Boston isn't sold on the 2019 draft class or don't like their odds of eventually landing either of those stars over the long-term, the case can be made for them to cash in some chips on a young building block Thursday night. At this point, the odds are firmly against a big deal occurring.

Whether or not the Celtics do ultimately pull the trigger on a move, expect a busy night Thursday across the league with plenty of activity across a very unsettled top half of the draft.

[democracy id="5"]