The Boston Celtics have reportedly traded Kristaps Porzingis to Atlanta as part of a three-team deal that brings Georges Niang and a second-round pick to Boston. According to ESPN, Boston is also sending out a second-rounder as part of the deal. Terance Mann is going to Brooklyn in this trade, and Boston is getting about $7 million under the second apron.
Karalis' Analysis
Wow, Brad Stevens moved swiftly to get Boston under the second apron. I have been extolling the virtues of Porzingis sticking around for a while in a wait-and-see scenario, but Stevens had other ideas. After two years of playing it as safe as possible with Porzingis' health and still not having him healthy for entire playoff runs, the Celtics are ripping off the Band-Aid and moving on.
Make no mistake, this is a straight salary dump. The mechanics of this deal will be interesting, and I think it involves some sequencing to take Porzingis into Brooklyn's cap space first, and then he'll move on to Atlanta. The involvement of Brooklyn is the key element here because their space allows the Celtics to turn $30 million of Porzingis into $8 million of Niang. It's a clever use of the Nets' cap space to facilitate a deal.
What I think happened (and the C's can't say because nothing is official) is Porzingis was sent to Brooklyn, getting a traded player exception in the process. Brooklyn then sent Porzingis to Atlanta in a separate deal that gets them Mann and Niang (a $15.5 million player and an $8 million player). And then Niang was rerouted to Boston and into their newly created TPE. If that's how this went, then it's a pretty brilliant move to shed $22 million in salary. I never thought of using their space that way. That's why Brad Stevens and friends are getting big money to run the Celtics, and I'm here golf clapping their maneuvering.
I'm not sure if Niang or Anfernee Simons are sticking around. Each of them could be moved on their own, or packaged in a bigger deal. Now that they are under the second apron, Boston can start aggregating salaries in trades. That would hard-cap them at the second apron, but they have some wiggle room to play with. Simons makes $27.7 million, so adding Niang's $8 million can get them into the realm of a pretty good player. As long as they're under the second apron line after the deal, it would be allowed, so it's very much possible that Stevens goes deep-sea fishing for something big. He also still has the $10 million "Sam Hauser into cap space or an exception" card to play if he needs to.
Even if Boston keeps Niang, he probably would be parked at the end of the bench. He's heading into his 10th season, and he's a career 40% 3-point shooter, so some spot regular-season minutes wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I know he's probably not the most popular guy around, but he's also a Massachusetts native who grew up a Celtics fan, so I think people will warm up to him if they have to. Keeping him would be inconsequential because he'll almost certainly be allowed to walk next summer.
The Celtics also have space to try to maneuver a deal with Luke Kornet and Al Horford. The market will certainly dictate some of those terms, but if Boston wants to move forward with them as their frontcourt, they have a chance to make it happen financially. Even if they go back over the second apron line, they still have a number of ways to get back under. Where yesterday I thought Kornet was probably gone, now I think there's a much better chance that he stays.
Once again, there are options here for Stevens, which makes this dance of his fascinating to watch. We could spend a season watching Simons and Niang in Boston, or Stevens can plié, pirouette, and relevé his way into a player we never expected. We've spent all this time thinking Boston was stuck choosing between a couple of directions with this team, and Stevens is out there playing 4-D chess.
And it's only June 24. We still haven't gotten to the draft or free agency yet. This might only just be the beginning.