Karalis: Final thoughts ahead of the final push before tomorrow's trade deadline

The trade deadline is tomorrow at 3:00 p.m., and there are still some real question marks around the league that will determine whether the dam will break, or if all we’ll get is trickles of water over the top of it. 

I do think a lot of players are on the verge of changing teams, but the question is whether it happens now or in July, and that will change the dynamic of who is in play, who’s buying, and who’s selling. 

The deadline is the highest pressure situation. Teams come into the season feeling good about themselves and most are preaching patience, but as the season rolls along, the reality of their situation becomes clear. This is why the Dallas Mavericks pulled the trigger on the Kyrie Irving trade (and why other teams would have if Dallas didn’t) when everyone in the world knows how this is going to end. 

Hell, listen to Irving in his first media availability.

That's a guy who wants to be in L.A. He wanted to be celebrating LeBron James becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on the floor with him. 

“As much as the what-ifs I would love to focus on and cherish, and what could have been and what should be, I have to shift my focus to what we have going on here” is the worst Valentine’s Day card yet, but Mark Cuban has to take it because it’s the only way out of the mess that he created. 

Hey, kudos to Kyrie and his team for playing their “trade me” hand well. They tried it over the summer, it flopped, and they saw teams get desperate and they made their move. Obviously, the Lakers were the most desperate team but Irving got out of Brooklyn and actually worked himself a little pay raise with his tax situation. New Yorkers pay state AND city taxes, but there's no state income tax in Texas. Way to go. 

If the deadline is enough to get one team to break, will other teams, especially in a wide open west, throw caution to the wind? And where does this leave the Celtics, who seem content to tinker around the edges?  

Here are some final thoughts as the deadline approaches.

- There are no Jaylen Brown rumors

Stephen A. Smith has made a lucrative career out of saying nothing loudly enough to confuse it as something. His grift is purely for entertainment purposes, and it has paid off for him. But it also pushes a lot of nothing into the stratosphere, and it rains back down as regurgitated “rumors.”

I’ll be as clear as possible when it comes to this. This is 100% about clicks by aggregators with loose ethics. So when you get a guy like Smith saying that he heard that there possibly could be something on the verge of potentially happening, there's already no substance to what’s being said. But then when it reaches the aggregation machine and someone slaps a “Rumor:” in front of it, then we’re sliding down the sewage pipe of social media where facts have no home. 

There are no rumors about Boston offering Brown for Kevin Durant. The Celtics probably did call to see what the Nets were thinking after Kyrie’s trade request because that's Brad Stevens’ job. The Celtics would be fools not to see if they could pry a useful player out of a deal either directly or as a third team. 

But Jaylen Brown isn’t going anywhere. Period. 

- Grant Williams drawing interest

Teams are doing their own due diligence on Williams because of his impending restricted free agency. 

Why not ask to see where Stevens stands, right?

This is a great opportunity for Stevens to talk to the rest of the league about Williams’s free agent value without getting on the phone and making the calls himself. This way there's no “I’m hearing Brad Stevens is making phone calls on Grant Williams” type of rumor out there, but he’s still able to gauge interest in his young forward. 

It honestly makes no sense to just trade him outright in a 1-for-1 move. I know some of you are a bit down on him thanks to his recent slump, but just shipping him out now is bad business. 

First of all, every player goes through slumps, and we’ve seen what he can be for the Celtics. I’m not bringing in a new guy who may or may not live up to the trade. Even if you don’t like Williams, this falls under the whole “the devil you know…” mindset. 

Secondly, he’s a RESTRICTED free agent. He has no real bargaining power here. I don’t think the league values him so highly that they're going to make some kind of poison pill offer to him. Teams have to overpay restricted free agents to lure them away because teams will simply match reasonable offers, and I don’t think Williams is worth the overpay to anyone. 

Williams will get paid appropriately this summer. And unless he outright demands a change of scenery, I think his play this season has kept his salary in a reasonable area. If the demand for him is high and he is actually priced out of Boston’s range, then they can explore sign-and-trades this summer. There's no need to move him mid-season during a potential championship run. You don’t ruin chemistry for a marginal upgrade. 

- End of bench tinkering

Boston does have a $5.89 million TPE and some salary combinations to play with, but I don’t know that they're going to get in on any big sweepstakes. There's no Jakob Poeltl or OG Anunoby coming to Boston. 

In fact, there's no real rumors about anyone coming to Boston, which tells me a couple of things. First, Boston isn’t pursuing anyone big enough worth leaking. Second, the Celtics are pretty good about hiding their intentions from the media. 

The Celtics have one open roster spot. They can open up a second one by moving Justin Jackson into someone’s cap space or exception for cash and a heavily protected pick. From there, they can play the 10-day or buyout game and see if they like anyone to add some depth.

As I’ve said before, the fact that the Dennis Schröder TPE expires a day after the deadline is interesting to me and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Celtics make a waiver claim with it if they can. However, a player would have to be waived today for that to happen because the waiver process takes 48 hours. 

- Expected active teams: 

The buzz around the league puts Toronto and Utah on the forefront of the deadline. Toronto is sending out mixed signals as both a buyer and a seller, which makes them more potential re-tooler than anything. They could send out Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, and/or Gary Trent, Jr. and bring back players who help in the short term as well as rebuilding pieces. The Raptors are certainly not going to be attempting an OKC-style rebuild here. 

I’m curious to see if Cam Thomas’ recent explosion in Brooklyn is enough to get a move done with the Raptors. Thomas, who has scored 40+ in three straight games now, could give Toronto the halfcourt creator they lack. He’s young and defense-averse, but maybe he can be molded into more. 

As for the Jazz, they might need a crowbar to pry the smile off Danny Ainge’s face as he surveys the market. I think he’s trying to cash in as much as he can, but Stevens should be trying to lean on his relationship with Ainge to maybe pry away someone useful. This could be a situation where if all things are equal, Ainge could do his buddy a favor and choose a Boston offer over others. What’s the market going to be Jarred Vanderbilt? He fits into the exception and he can also be acquired with salary. 

If you want more trade rumor stuff, here’s the latest Locked On Celtics podcast with me and Tom Westerholm discussing some of these topics and a few others.