NBA Notebook: What could trade season look like for the Celtics?

The Celtics' western conference excursion provided an opportunity to take in the G-League Showcase this week in Orlando, an increasingly popular winter gathering for league personnel on the eve of trade season heating up into January. Past trade deadlines featured months of buzz over how the Ben Simmons and Kevin Durant trade requests would resolve. A surprising Kyrie Irving ask-out set the table for an uncharacteristically busy February alongside the Lakers' strong desire to move on from Russell Westbrook last year. Now, Zach LaVine's exit from Chicago seems like the only early story.

That, alongside Boston's 22-6 start, made for a sleepy day of conversations at the Showcase, as Jake Fischer also wrote for Yahoo. Plenty could change in the coming weeks, but for top-heavy and established teams like the Celtics, a quieter deadline appears in order. That's no surprise given the success following the team's most active offseason since 2007 that included two blockbuster trades for Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday. Boston retains future draft capital, a Grant Williams trade exception ($6.2M) and an insatiable desire by Brad Stevens to continue improving the roster. While holes exist on the roster, it's less clear what opportunities will arise and how the Celtics could entice a partner in a trade. As I wrote earlier this month, the team's focus should at least slightly turn toward positioning itself for sustaining growth deeper in the organization through drafting and development. 

The argument also exists that Boston should finish its roster shuffling and go all-in before the more stringent effects of the new collective bargaining agreement begin next season, impacting high-cost contenders like the Celtics. This year, teams above the second apron cannot sign potential buyout players like Gordon Hayward, who make more than the mid-level exception ($12.2 million). That allows for low-key additions, but none likely to make more waves off Boston's bench than their cast of Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Al Horford and Luke Kornet. Joe Mazzulla officially committed to them last week as the team's bench rotation when the Celtics are healthy. 

“It’s Payton, Sam, Luke and Al, I’d say, when we’re 100% healthy,” he said before Boston beat Cleveland on Thursday. “That’s our nine. They’ve developed a tremendous identity from the first week of the season, where everybody thought they weren’t good. They’ve turned into, that’s our team, they’ve done a great job. Then, the unit behind that, you have to have a lot of conversations with them, because I do think there are games, and I learned this last year, whether it’s back-to-backs or there are injuries, where they have to play and we need you to keep the train moving and do everything you’re supposed to do and win." 

That group helped Boston improve to +8.9 per 100 possessions with Jayson Tatum off the floor after blowing out the Kings while Tatum sat with an ankle injury on Wednesday, something incomprehensible as recently as one season ago when the Celtics heavily relied on his minutes. Now, a more flexible roster around its top-six continues to see pleasantly surprising contributions off the bench, whether Hauser shooting 43.3% from three through 153 attempts, Pritchard improving to 48.8% from deep in December, Horford hitting threes, rebounding and passing again, or Kornet holding the line as the depth center. In December, Oshae Brissett, Lamar Stevens and Neemias Queta also flashed positive contributions in short-handed Celtics games. 

While Boston's rotation will inevitably shorten into the postseason, at least one or two of the players mentioned about will have to sustain into the playoffs, especially in case of injury. Only Horford boasts significant playoff experience among them, with Hauser and Pritchard effectively out of the rotation during last spring's east finals run. Two absences in both games to begin the West Coast road trip revealed this roster's greatest need -- someone to fill the gap Grant Williams did, impacting the four and five positions simultaneously. It's something Mazzulla continues to experiment with when he pairs Horford with Kornet or Queta, both of those combinations winning minutes for Boston, while Horford and Brissett carved out a +2.3 net rating together in five games. 

Williams, who went to Dallas on a four-year, $53 million contract before Boston traded Robert Williams III for Holiday, has hit his threes this season (38.6%) and struggled from inside the arc as a Mavericks starter. He might've proven a luxury for an increasingly expensive Boston roster, his $12.4-million salary in place of a minimum like Brissett's $2.2-million deal would've bumped the team's tax bill from $39.1 million to $78.3 million. Adding half of his salary, as the full TPE Boston received in the sign-and-trade with Dallas could allow them to do, still bumps the Celtics' tax bill over $50-million, with more prohibitive penalties to come in ensuing seasons. Still, Boston would benefit immensely from finding shades of Williams' impact at a lower price tag. 

It's unsurprising that reports have linked the Celtics to Grizzlies bench wing John Konchar and Pistons big Isaiah Stewart. Konchar, a 27-year-old veteran who has knocked down shots and rebounded well throughout his five years in Memphis, would bring slightly more than Mike Muscala did last year at nearly double the price beginning next season ($6.2M). Boston agreed to give Pritchard a similar bump, and another contract of that size could provide the Celtics more flexibility next summer. Konchar isn't Williams, shooting only 33.3% from three so far, but is more used to playing in and out of the rotation. Defensive metrics rate him well, including an 11th-place finish in the RAPTOR metric last year. His consistent appearance in reporting makes it sound feasible as the kind of deal Boston will pursue, but he's a Grizzlies favorite on a team that just returned Ja Morant in hopes of a big second half.

Stewart is less likely, and nearly impossible to acquire due to the poison pill restriction in his contract extension. At 22, he maintains plenty of room to evolve in a better situation than Detroit, but his game at 6-8, 250 looks more like Demarcus Cousins' than Grant's. His bump to 37.4% shooting from deep this year, playing 70% of his minutes at the four according to Basketball Reference, intrigues. His $15-million salary next year effectively makes him Grant from a money perspective, and the poison pill forces Boston have to match that money now in a deal. They'd have slightly more matching flexibility before dollar-for-dollar trade matching begins next year for teams like the Celtics, but it'd still require Boston move on from Pritchard and numerous other bench players, not to mention draft capital. That's worth it if you see Stewart following in Horford's footsteps at the center spot long-term. 

He'd be a luxury on this roster, and would deplete it by as many as five bench players including Pritchard to make the money work. Detroit can't currently take back that many contracts. The Athletic reported Dallas, Oklahoma City and Boston have great interest in Stewart, which doesn't negate the difficulties mentioned above, but does reflect an intriguing array of sellers emerging early around the league. The Pistons and Spurs, whose bench shooter Cedi Osman received a mentioned as a Celtics fit by Zach Lowe this week, can hope for second-half surges, but more likely will set up for draft positioning to continue their rebuilds after horrible first quarters to their seasons. Utah, Washington and Portland sit in similar positions, with the Hornets and Raptors' front offices not far behind in their need to look in the mirror. 

Kelly Olynyk crossed Boston's radar last year, but makes $12.2 million and that's now almost assuredly too expensive for the Celtics even as a rental. Daniel Gafford makes the same amount. Lauri Markkanen is no longer untouchable, but might as well be at a salary closer to $20-million and with Danny Ainge involved in any potential negotiation for the Jazz star. Portland and Charlotte don't have much for Boston. 

The best fits for the Celtics makes roughly Konchar money, like Thunder forward Kenrich Williams ($6.2M), long available for the right price, but now playing on a team that looks like it could contend. Aleksej Pokusevski ($5M) is more expendable on that same roster ahead of his restricted free agency. Nick Richards ($5M) plays rock solid backup center minutes and is signed for three seasons by the Hornets, who could see a front office overhaul soon. Those players don't move the needle significantly, or might not play at all on Boston's current bench. Players who make less than them are either low-cost veterans on winning teams or young prospects who need development. That leads to the final, less exciting potential path for the Celtics. 

Boston's bench sits in a difficult position where they won't receive consistent minutes and need to amend their game to a more supportive, often offensive rebounding and defense, role to accentuate the Celtics' starters. Brissett, Stevens and Queta all represented solid second draft additions, who began their development elsewhere and could continue theirs in Boston. The Celtics could opt to substitute skillsets through that method, particularly since Pritchard and Hauser held down their positions on the bench, rendering Svi Mykhailiuk and Dalano Banton as DNP-CD players most nights. Could their salaries offset the addition of a four? Would another center make sense? Boston only has three if they don't promote Queta to the active roster later this year. 

Lowe also mentioned Simone Fontecchio, a 6-8, 28-year-old Italian shooter playing in his second NBA season for the Jazz on an expiring $3.0-million contract. Boston began that kind of shuffling at the bottom of the roster earlier this month by waiving two-way center Nathan Knight and adding younger shooting wing Drew Peterson from Sioux Falls, Miami's G-League affiliate. Mazzulla predicted Peterson could develop the way Hauser did in Maine. 

Elsewhere, the Hawks and Pacers appear poised to rekindle their past interest in Raptors star Pascal Siakam, while the Knicks might corner the center market in desperation after losing Mitchell Robinson for the season. The LaVine saga won't likely shift the dynamic of power in the east, but Philadelphia maintains the flexibility to make a bigger addition like him despite the success of the role players who came back in the James Harden deal. The Celtics don't have significant assets, but theirs are comparable to the Sixers' and exceed the Bucks, Heat and Cavs' depleted draft capital. 

Movement will happen, it always does, and more pronounced winners and losers from the early portion of the schedule than usual will provide a needed nudge for certain teams to act. That won't include the Celtics, perhaps the least desperate of any given their current situation. They're moving quietly for now, and their aggressiveness will come down to which opportunities emerge and how confident they feel in the bench unit's playoff readiness. 

Going on year two with that group -- the organization largely hasn't wavered in its belief of them.  

"Those guys, since day one, since I've coached them both in Summer League," Mazzulla said of Pritchard and Hauser last week. "I've always known they were going to be great rotation players. I had full confidence in them last year and I have full confidence in them this year. Again, I keep saying it, but they work out together every day and I think the growth for them this year has been on the defensive end. They continue to get better in our system but on the offensive end, they learned what's a J.T.-Payton pick-and-roll look like? What's a J.B.-Sam pick-and-roll look like? So they're learning how to navigate those two-man reads with those guys and they've been great for us." 

Here's what else happened around the NBA this week...

Boston (22-6): Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porziņģis turned their ankles to begin the Celtics' first west coast trip, losing a 17-point lead to the Warriors after Tatum went down early and returned to play poorly through his miss at the buzzer into an eventual overtime loss. Porziņģis shined the following night while Tatum sat, pouring in five straight points at the free throw line, but landing on Domantas Sabonis' foot and finishing what soon became a blowout win over the Kings. Luke Kornet (adductor) and Porziņģis sat in Saturday's second straight 140-point showing over the Clippers, creating another sizable opportunity for two-way center Neemias Queta, who posted a second double-double over three games. Kornet said he'd miss 1-2 weeks. Tatum scored 30 points after entering as a game time decision. The Celtics stay in LA to face the Lakers on Christmas at 5 p.m. 

Brooklyn (14-15): Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith missed a game this week to reunite with his father after a 28-year sentence in prison stemming from a second-degree murder charge he didn't accept a plea deal for, while the man who fired the shots during the dispute only served five years over. Elbert Smith received 44 years after the incident in 1995, only two years after the birth of Finney-Smith. The Dallas Mavericks, Finney-Smith's former team, helped Elbert receive parole this month and Finney-Smith received an excuse from the Nets to be with his family for his release.

"He's here for Christmas; that's what matters. This is the best Christmas gift I've ever gotten," Finney-Smith said. "Besides the births of my kids, this is up there with the best days I've ever had."

Brooklyn, meanwhile, lost five straight games while Ben Simmons (back) remains sidelined with no timetable to return since his last game on Nov. 6.

Chicago (13-18): Zach LaVine (foot), out since Nov. 28, continues to dominate a largely quiet NBA trade rumor cycle less than two months before the deadline. He reportedly would like to join the Lakers, but it's unclear if LA desires to add his long-term contract after struggles early in the season before his injury hiatus that coincided with Bulls wins in three straight and 8-of-12. Chicago ranked 12th in offense and seventh in defense recently, and with Derrick White earning an all-star pitch from Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, Bulls guard Coby White could emerge alongside him averaging 17.6 PPG and 5.0 APG. Shams Charania reported that the 76ers continue to monitor LaVine, who will return to the court this week, but Marc Stein disagreed. 

Cleveland (17-13): The Cavaliers stabilized with wins over the Hawks, Rockets and Jazz at home following their back-to-back losses in Boston. Interest in Donovan Mitchell's future will nonetheless continue as long as Cleveland sits among the lower-tier playoff seeds, currently seventh, though only 1.0 game back of Orlando for home court at No. 4 and reportedly unwilling to listen to Mitchell trade ideas. The Knicks and Nets will undoubtedly dream of luring him to his native New York, but Jake Fischer and Zach Lowe both noted that the Cavaliers remain intent on keeping the star guard for now. The Miami Heat would also emerge as a suitor in a bidding war, Brian Windhorst said. Darius Garland and Evan Mobley will miss at least one month following their surgeries. Point guard Ricky Rubio, however, is increasingly unlikely to rejoin the team after leaving for mental health reasons. 

Denver (21-10): Alongside four straight wins and 7-of-8 to ascend to second in the west, Nikola Jokic appeared in his first major commercial. 

Detroit (2-27): Lost their 26th straight game to tie the 2011 Cavaliers and 2014 76ers' single-season NBA losing streak record (26). They could also tie the league record across multiple seasons, 28 by the 76ers between 2015-16, on Thursday at TD Garden against the Celtics on the front end of Boston's back-to-back returning from the west coast. First, Detroit will play the Nets again on Tuesday after dropping close games to them, the Hawks and Jazz. They're getting closer, and although their season is likely over before it began, their star Cade Cunningham is maintaining faith. 

"We're not 2-26 bad, no way are we that bad. I think we can turn this around. We can play a much better brand of basketball," he said after posting 28 points and 10 assists against Utah. The Pistons last won on Oct. 28 and have dropped 118 of their last 150 games reaching back to last season. 

The Athletic spoke with Pistons owner Tom Gores -- who signaled change could be coming. 

Golden State (15-14): Shocked the Celtics in a comeback win without Draymond Green thanks to 12 Chris Paul assists, a pull-up Steph Curry three before the end of regulation and one to cap overtime after Paul recovered Curry's miss in the post. Rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis, the No. 57 pick from Indiana in last year's draft, tipped the ball to Paul on the play and finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds before posting another triple-double against Washington in Jordan Poole's first game back in San Francisco since the trade. The rookie's energy gave the team a needed boost after a difficult start to the month that led to Green's absence. Steve Kerr affirmed Jackson-Davis, my top pick for the Celtics entering the draft, would remain in the rotation.

Clippers (17-12): Kawhi Leonard missed the Clippers' losses to the Thunder and Celtics with a bruised right hip that ended the team's nine-game win streak on the second half of a back-to-back at the end of a road trip. Leonard, James Harden, Paul George, Terance Mann and Ivica Zubac had gelled to the point where they've accumulated a +16.5 net rating, close to Boston's starting five (+19.6). ESPN highlighted how Harden has worked in LA, averaging 20.1 PPG and 9.5 APG on 47.9% shooting during the win streak. Leonard had averaged 29.3 PPG on 61.3% shooting during the first nine. 

Lakers (16-14): Stumbled since their In-Season Tournament title, which they raised a banner for earlier this month, losing 5-of-6 and escaping the Spurs by a basket in their lone win over that stretch. Then, LeBron James unloaded 40 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to get right against the Thunder before Christmas. They had ranked 17th in defense after a top-10 start while their shooting struggles continue to undermine the offense, deciding to bench D'Angelo Russell entering Saturday's game. Still, it's hard to imagine a team ranked 15th in effective shooting, the Jazz last year for comparison, approaching a championship. The Heat struggled to hit threes last regular season (25th) before a shooting surge into the playoffs led them to the Finals against the eventual champion Nuggets, who finished No. 1 in effective shooting last year. LeBron James and Anthony Davis can't do it all. It's hard to believe Zach LaVine solves their issues either.

Memphis (9-19): Ja Morant returned from his 25-game suspension to hit a game-winning layup at the buzzer in New Orleans to cap a 24-point comeback behind his 27 points in the second half on 9-for-16 shooting. Desmond Bane joked that Morant pitched a play to Jaren Jackson Jr. in the timeout huddle, while Bane and others shook their heads and said get Morant the ball. 

He returned to Memphis to score 20 points with eight assists in a double-digit win over the Pacers, providing a needed jolt for a team that'll return Marcus Smart to the floor alongside him this week, possibly as soon as Tuesday. The Grizzlies are 5.5 games back of the west playoff picture with 54 remaining. 

Milwaukee (22-7)/New York (16-12): The Bucks and Knicks tip-off Christmas in New York at 12:30 with the Knicks now knowing dominant rebounder Mitchell Robinson (ankle) will miss the entire season as they apply for the disabled player exception. New York's center search will have to begin soon after losing another depth big man in Jericho Sims, who sprained his ankle and will sit for 1-2 weeks. Isaiah Hartenstein can hold it down for now as an effective backup option, but the Knicks will explore center and other upgrades, with reported interest in Hawks guard Dejounte Murray as the Hawks' season turns sideways early. New York can offer Evan Fournier's $18-million expiring contract, Immanuel Quickley after rookie extension talks failed to materialize over the summer and many future first-round picks. It's less likely RJ Barrett moves after the team wouldn't move him for OG Anunoby. 

New Orleans (17-13): The Athletic reported Zion Williamson's final three years of his contract are no longer guaranteed after the star missed enough games to begin the deal to trigger a stipulation that protected New Orleans against injury in the $197.3-million deal he signed through 2028. While the situation didn't become dire enough for the Pelicans to consider waiving Williamson, the only way they won't pay out his deal in full aside from trading him, his current health and weight dilemma still reflects why New Orleans pursued those terms in the first place. He can earn back some guaranteed money by playing often enough over the next stretch of the deal, and it's unlikely the news serves as anything tangible except for a wake-up call -- for now. 

Philadelphia (20-8): Joel Embiid answered groans about the strength of schedule he batter to shoot ahead of the competition in the early MVP race by unloading on the west-best Timberwolves with 51 points in 36 minutes on Thursday. He scored 31 more, falling one assist short of a triple-double, against Toronto in a back-to-back and kept the 76ers on track atop the east, 1.0 game behind the Bucks and 1.5 behind Boston at No. 1. Philadelphia visits Miami at 8 p.m. on Christmas with Embiid averaging 35.0 PPG, 11.7 RPG, 6.0 APG and 2.0 BPG in what's becoming among the best seasons ever by a center. 

Sacramento (17-11): Raced with the Celtics for one quarter, 41-38, before Boston flexed a defensive muscle that Sacramento couldn't come close to that generated 144 points on the other end of the floor against the continuously poor Kings defense. The Kings are a top offensive unit, a playoff team and a threat to win any series in the west, but seeing where the Warriors went after sneaking out of their first-round battle last year makes it worth wondering if those seven games said more about Golden State than Sacramento's ascent. This roster needs some adjusting, but they looked far ahead of Phoenix on Friday, winning 120-105. Domantas Sabonis posted 28 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists in the win. Second-year wing Keegan Murray hit 12 threes last Saturday to pour 47 points over Utah. 

Toronto (11-18): They've lost 7-of-10 as the basketball world awaits their realization that it's time to begin the rebuild, or at least a restart, by trading Pascal Siakam and/or OG Anunoby, or addressing their futures with the organization ahead of free agency. HoopsHype reported Siakam would be the more likely of the two players to get dealt, interesting given the wide reporting on conversations the Raptors had, albeit while commanding a high price, for the all-defensive Anunoby. It's believed that Toronto will do whatever it takes to retain Anunoby if he declines his player option this summer. Long-running conversations between the Raptors and middling east teams Atlanta and Indiana continued at Orlando's G-League Showcase, Michael Scotto wrote. Both teams have expressed past interest in Siakam and need more two-way production at the wing spot.