The Boston Celtics are facing a financial crunch that will force them to make some tough decisions this summer.
With their rising payroll, which could reach $500 million, including the luxury tax penalties, if they run it back. With franchise cornerstone Jayson Tatum (Achilles injury) on the shelf for most, if not the entire next season, multiple reports suggest a major roster shakeup.
Adam Taylor of the USA Today’s Warriors Wire proposed a trade that will get them under the second apron involving one of their key starters, which he noted works under the “the rigorous trade machine test over on Spotrac.
Here is Taylor’s trade proposal:
Golden State Warriors receive: Derrick White
Boston Celtics receive: Gary Payton II, Buddy Hield, Trayce Jackson-Davis, a 2027 first-round pick (lottery protected)
This proposed return is basically what the Celtics gave up when they traded for White in 2022, sending Romeo Langford, guard Josh Richardson, and a protected 2022 first-round draft pick, which turned out to be No. 25 pick Blake Wesley.
“As the Celtics are a second-apron luxury tax team, they’re unable to aggregate salaries via a trade. As such, White can be the only player heading out of the door, unless the return allows Boston to escape the second apron,” Taylor wrote.
Payton II is an unrestricted free agent, so if he is included it will be via sign-and-trade. The veteran guard is a defensive pest, who played a key role in the Golden State Warriors‘ championship run in 2022 at the expense of the Celtics.
“Hield makes considerable sense for Boston. Joe Mazzulla’s team leads the league in 3-point volume and would welcome another elite sniper. At the same time, Jackson-Davis could emerge as a long-term solution to Al Horford, who may or may not return for another season,” Taylor added.
Derrick White is Warriors’ Trade Target
White is a Warriors’ trade target, according to The Ringer’s Logan Murdock when he appeared on “The Zach Lowe Show” on May 16.
“Another guy that I think you should look at for the Warriors going forward is Derrick White,” Murdock said. “A guy like that I think, is something that the Warriors are looking at right now because Boston is expected in league circles to have some sort of fire sale or some sort of maybe reset… Just somebody that can play defense and kind of just settle everyone down. Especially when you have a young group like that, you need to settle them down in the non-Steph [Curry] minutes, so that’s something to figure out.”
And it’s not hard to see why. White has a championship pedigree and he has a mutual connection with Kerr — Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs — which makes him a seamless fit.
The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 20.2 points in their second-round loss to the New York Knicks. He finished the playoffs as Boston’s third-best scorer, averaging 18.8 points, behind Tatum (28.1 points) and Jaylen Brown (22.1), and was also one of their top perimeter defenders.
Derrick White Over Jrue Holiday?
Getty Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors is guarded by Jrue Holiday and Derrick White of the Boston Celtics.
After their playoff exit, White hinted that the changes in the roster are indeed coming.
“It sucks, we’re never getting this season back,” White told reporters following their 119-81 loss in Game 6. “We’re never going to have the exact same team again.”
White will be 31 in July and his four-year, $118 million deal will start kicking in next season.
However, NBA insider Marc Stein reported that the Celtics are more inclined to trade Jrue Holiday, who will turn 35 this July, than White.
“The Celtics’ precise determination to keep their various veterans is difficult to calculate so soon after the defending champions’ Round 2 exit to the Knicks in six games and the devastating loss of Jayson Tatum to an Achilles rupture, but the early projections in circulation suggest Boston is more apt to make Jrue Holiday available via trade this offseason than Derrick White,” Stein wrote.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Celtics Get Young Center for Derrick White in 1-for-3 Trade Pitch appeared first on Heavy Sports.