The Boston Celtics trade deadline seemed to go pretty well. They made some moves that set this current team up well while maintaining some flexibility for the future. Derrick White comes in from a San Antonio Spurs system Ime Udoka grew up in as a coach, so his learning curve might be a bit shorter than others.
But while the Celtics have set this current Celtics team up with a couple of pieces that might fit a little better, the Celtics have also set themselves up well to make a big splash if one presents itself.
Let’s look at three key elements the Celtics now have with these moves that make the pursuit of a major star possible.
1. The right mix of contracts
White’s contract mirrors Marcus Smart’s pretty closely, so with White, the Celtics now have two guys who make between $16.8 million and $17.2 million next season. Their contracts are within a few hundred thousand dollars of each other over the next three years.
Bringing in Daniel Theis ads $8.2 million salary.
With Al Horford, the Celtics have either a $14.5 million salary to trade (the guaranteed amount, which is what will count in a trade if the rest isn’t guaranteed at the time) or a $26.5 million salary if they guarantee him fully.
Adding Theis and White give Boston two tiers of salary they didn’t have before. The additional mid-tier salary is very important, and it could combine with Horford to reach a superstar level when you add in the salaries of younger players. Theis’ $8.2 million can be useful in matching a smaller, non-max contract.
2. Player duplication
It’s quite curious that the Celtics have added a player in White who is sort of a Smart-ish player and Theis, who is sort of a Horford-ish player.
The Celtics have a lot of possible routes they can go moving forward. The player duplication allows Boston to establish their system without fear of losing a particular guy. They can spend the rest of the year with Smart as their starter and White as the backup and then if one of them is necessary in a trade over the summer, the other is there.
Do the Celtics need to include Smart in a deal for a big star? White slides into his role. If White needs to go, then the Celtics can say they made the deal while keeping Smart and that continuity. If they keep both, then they already know how that works.
The same applies to the bigs with Theis and Horford. Theis has a proven track record playing with this core and he can play a similar style as Horford. Neither White nor Theis are exact copies, but there are enough similarities that both can fill in blanks next season if needed.
Horford’s contract might be necessary for a deal. Smart’s defensive intensity might be necessary for a deal. Those are bitter pills to swallow, especially Smart. Having guys who can slide in if necessary to make up for those losses is important.
3. The draft picks line up
The 2028 pick swap seems weird, right? Why would they push a pick swap way out to 2028?
It’s because the Celtics are keeping their pick-trading options open for a big deal.
Let’s go back to the Kemba Walker deal, which involved the 2021 draft pick. By doing that in the last calendar year, that made the 2022 pick available to be moved. Now that the 2022 pick was used this year, the 2023 pick can be traded next season.
You might be asking “but John, what about the Stepien rule?”
The Stepien rule stipulates teams can’t trade consecutive FUTURE first round picks. What happened last year doesn’t matter. A team can trade its upcoming first round pick at the trade deadline every year forever without violating that rule.
So Boston couldn't give the Spurs the 2022 and 2023 first round picks at the deadline because that violates the rule of trading consecutive future picks. But trading the 2022 pick now and the 2023 pick in July in the next NBA calendar year is OK.
If the Celtics have designs on a major trade this summer or next trade deadline, they have the ability to offer the 2023, 2025, and 2027 picks with 2024, and 2026 pick swaps. That means the 2028 pick is the next available pick the Celtics would have available to play with.
That's why the C’s pushed the swap out that far. They're keeping all these upcoming picks just in case they need to package a bunch for a big superstar trade.
I don’t know that Boston has any particular target in mind. What they have done, though, is put themselves in position to make a major trade over the summer or next trade deadline. If one doesn’t materialize, it can pivot to something smaller. We can’t predict the future, but Boston has set itself up for whatever possibilities might come up.
This and the entire trade deadline was discussed on the latest Locked On Celtics podcast, which can check out here: