Should the Boston Celtics ask after the trade availability of Houston Rockets forward Jae’Sean Tate? In the assessment of The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie, Boston is one of several clubs that ought to consider it, along with the Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Miami Heat.
“While Tate can be a good veteran on a Rockets team competing for a playoff spot this year, his value league-wide might exceed his likely role in Houston because of his relatively cheap contract,” writes Vecenie. “A number of teams possess trade exceptions big enough to absorb Tate’s 2023-24 salary in exchange for draft pick capital,” but this does not include the Celtics, who have a $6.2 million trade exception from Grant Williams’ exit to the Dallas Mavericks that Tate makes too much to fit into at $6.5 million in salary.
Could a trade outright make sense, then? With reserve guard Payton Pritchard poison pilled on his new extension, his incoming salary is valued at $6.8 million, but his outgoing cap hit is just $4.0 million for Boston, making such a deal CBA-illegal.
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Attaching one of the three $2 million salaries the Celtics have on their roster could get the job done, and with the sparse playing time of Dalano Banton, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Lamar Stevens, such a move is not out of the question.
Standing just 6-foot-4, Tate is not your usual frontcourt player, but his 35.9% rate from deep and 3.5 boards and 1.1 assists per game in what has increasingly become a declining role in Houston could make sense if Boston’s front office balks on Pritchard’s inconsistency this season.
But we think a player making less — and perhaps more able to help serve as more of a traditional big man — a more likely target for Boston, perhaps even as a buyout option instead of trade.
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