The Boston Celtics have the luxury of being able to sit back and do nothing with a fair degree of confidence at the 2023 NBA trade deadline this coming Feb. 9, but if they do, Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale has identified their best trade chip to make a move with. In a league-wide exercise, Favale eliminated all but “the most valuable player or asset each squad should be willing to move” to improve the team.
That knocks out Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum for the B/R analyst, as well as Grant Williams due to his looming restricted free agency, and Marcus Smart due to his age (29). Robert Williams III’s knee takes him out of the running, and Malcolm Brogdon and Derrick White aren’t quite good enough to be the focal point of a deal for Favale.
So what does that leave? Picks, per the author. “Boston has the capacity to dangle first-rounders in 2025, 2027, and 2029,” suggests Favale.
While the prevailing wisdom of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ may seem the obvious route for a better version of the ball club that made (and nearly won) the 2022 NBA Fin… https://t.co/0atiM6xe2L
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 19, 2023
“The latter is too far away to spotlight. It gives the Celtics plenty of time to rejigger the core if their trajectory runs astray,” he notes. “Rival teams should be most interested in the 2025 selection.”
“It conveys relatively soon yet post-dates Brown’s entry in 2024 free agency,” the B/R writer continues, careful to note that he doesn’t mean “to imply Brown is a flight risk,” just that he could be.
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