The Celtics will be sitting this trade deadline out when it comes to the Anthony Davis derby, but that doesn’t mean they can’t help themselves on that front now when the opportunity arises to make a deal in the summer. How exactly could Danny Ainge and cap guru Mike Zarren do some maneuvering now that helps them land the prized All-Star? Let’s examine one possible tweak that opens the door for the Celtics to have a few more options in a potential swap.
Let’s begin with the general guidelines: The need to send out $21.6 million in order to land Davis per CBA trade rules for tax teams. Davis makes $27.1 million in 2019-20 so that’s the threshold that is needed in order to make the money work. That’s also assuming Davis would waive his 15 percent trade kicker, which is no guarantee. If he doesn’t, that $21.6 million goes up.
The Celtics have a number of ways to get to that threshold with their own players, but a lot of them include adding assets that they may not want to include in the deal.
There are some easy ways the Celtics can reach that threshold. Including Gordon Hayward’s contract ($32 million per year) is an easy path but it’s unclear whether the Pelicans would want to take on that kind of dough without getting additional compensation given how the former All-Star looks this year. I would imagine Brad Stevens would not be in favor of such a maneuver after luring his college star to Boston as a free agent two years ago.
Al Horford is another possibility to fill that gap ($30.1 million) but he has a player option for 2019-20 and there is no way he would want to go to a rebuilding situation at age 32. The Celtics could obviously use another elite big man to pair with Davis as well, so the internal preference from my understanding is that Horford remains on the roster. His use to New Orleans would be limited anyway, making a third team necessary in any hypothetical offer, which further complicates things.
If Horford and Hayward aren’t in the mix, the Celtics have very few options to get up to the $21.6 million salary threshold remaining to match the Davis salary. Marcus Smart ($12.7 million) would have to be included in almost any package to make it work and that’s not a good thing for a team that wants to contend now. Smart is a crucial cog to this roster now on both ends and his versatility will be almost impossible to replace on the free agent market.
Want to keep Smart? You’ll have to deal Brown, Tatum, Williams, Yabusele, Ojeleye, the draft picks and convince Aron Baynes to opt into to his player option and play in New Orleans (highly unlikely). It’s doubtful Ainge wants to empty the cupboard by that much since he will have very little to rebuild the rest of the roster with.
The bottom line here? The Celtics could certainly use more 2019-20 salary on the books to help them make a trade without needing to include so many key assets. How exactly can they address this issue in the next week while they are forced to sit on the sidelines for Davis? Here’s a look at an option the front office could consider:
Trade for another player under contract next season
It’s a simple concept really. The Celtics have plenty of free agents to be on the books (Marcus Morris, Terry Rozier, Daniel Theis) for the time being. While Morris’ status appears safe (since he’s such a crucial part of this team), the salaries of Rozier and Theis could potentially be leveraged into more salary for next year.
NBA rules dictate that a tax paying team can only take back a maximum of 125 percent of outgoing salary in a deal, so here’s the most money the Celtics could take back in any deal for each of these players.
Rozier: $3.825 million
Theis: $1.725 million
Guerschon Yabusele has his contract picked up for next season essentially for the use of his salary ($3.1 million) for trade scenarios. However, since he’s not a big part of this team’s rotation currently at the moment, Boston could try to leverage his deal into a bigger salary for next year using the same rationale, without the issue of disrupting the team’s current rotation.
Yabusele: $3.33 million
So will the Celtics actually go this route? It seems unlikely with Rozier and Theis since those guys are vital cogs of this current team and source have indicated to BSJ that Danny Ainge isn’t interested in making a deal this year that downgrades the current team on the floor amid their championship aspirations.
So would the Celtics be willing to move Rozier or Yabusele and a future pick to land a bigger salary for next year?
A few names that would fit these criteria:
Yogi Ferrell ($3.1 million in 2019-20)
Skal Labbiserie ($2.2 million)
Jerome Robinson ($3.5 million)
Nene ($3.8 million)
Grayson Allen ($2.4 million)
Zach Collins ($4.2 million)
Denzel Valentine ($3.3 million)
Taurean Prince ($3.4 million)
Luke Kennard ($3.8 million)
Glenn Robinson ($4.1 million; would need to be two players)
Tony Parker ($5 million; would need to be two players)
Will this happen? It’s hard to find the right player that would seemingly make a difference here for the Celtics from an on-court standpoint, as very few of these guys are capable of breaking into the rotation on this team. Still, as the Celtics look to construct hypothetical trade packages for the future, every dollar counts. Having one of these guys could be the difference in having to send out Robert Williams, Semi Ojeleye or an even bigger name as part of the trade package. Still, most of these guys are going to require a first round pick for those services and that might not be worth the cost if they are just going to be dealt away in a few months anyway.
From an on-court standpoint, a Rozier and player x (Wanamaker or Bird?) for Parker swap would be an interesting twist since Parker could help the C’s now.
The other alternative to adding more future salary via a trade option is a more expensive one (in terms of dollar and cents for ownership) but it would be just as if not more effective. We will cover that possibility in the coming days, but it involves using a taxpayer mid-level exception to sign a player to a multi-year deal ahead of the end of the regular season.
Either way, expect the Celtics front office to continually float options to the Pelicans in the coming days so they have a better sense of what kind of trade package fits their desires. From there, Boston can try to put the pieces together so they are ready to roll with an offer they are comfortable making by the time the NBA Draft rolls around. Nothing can officially happen until after July 1 with Davis but terms can be agreed to well before then.
Other NBA News and Notes
- The Grizzlies and Rockets are reportedly discussing a Brandon Knight salary dump trade that would give Memphis an extra first-round pick for absorbing his bloated deal for next season. The problem for Memphis for taking on that deal is they still need to send some players back to match money and they could fetch a similar return for a few candidates (JaMychal Green, Garrett Temple) without absorbing a bad contract on top of it. For that reason, would expect no movement on this one until we get closer to the deadline or if Houston sweetens the offer.
- The first reported offer by the Lakers to the Pelicans was Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Rajon Rondo, Michael Beasley and a protected first-round pick, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. It’s easy to see why Pelicans general manager Dell Demps was reportedly avoiding the Lakers’ calls after seeing that one.
- Pretty noteworthy injury for Sixers swingman Wilson Chandler who will be out for the next 2-3 weeks with a right quad strain. He had been starting at power forward while healthy this year and will miss the matchup with Boston a week from Tuesday in Philadelphia, which will force the Sixers to lean heavily on Mike Muscala.
- I’d expect DeAndre Jordan and Wesley Matthews to be bought out by the Knicks shortly after the trade deadline next week to hit the buyout market. Both guys have some trade value but with the Knicks wanting to keep future salary cap room clear, I can’t imagine them finding a workable deal that gives them decent value as well. Matthews would be a nice fit in Boston but I bet he goes somewhere where he’s guaranteed more playing time (Houston).