A month ago, the Celtics were sitting at 5-7 on the season, just about where they were expected to be with star forward Jayson Tatum out because of an Achilles tendon injury and with veterans Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis peddled elsewhere thanks to the impact of the dreaded second apron to the NBA’s luxury tax. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White are still on board, along with point guard Payton Pritchard and forward Sam Hauser, but no one else who got regular minutes on the 2024 championship team is in place.
But a few things have happened in the past month. White has regained his shooting stroke, averaging 20.0 points in that span, and both he and Pritchard (19.6 points) have been playing like All-Stars. Brown has been playing like an MVP–30.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists–and the Celtics have gotten competent performances from their role players, pushing the team to a 10-2 mark in its last 12 games.
The Celtics now are 15-9, and in an Eastern Conference that is being battered by injuries and underperformance, that has them perched at No. 3 overall, just behind the Knicks and Pistons. This was supposed to be a bridge year for the Celtics, a chance to reset themselves financially while awaiting Tatum’s return. With 24 games gone, it is shaping up to be much more.
Celtics Trade Deadline Could Call for Additions
But the Celtics’ start does raise some questions. There has to be a temptation, while still focusing on getting the finances right, to invest in this year’s team at the trade deadline and see if it can make a run in the East. Another big man is certainly a need, and on the off chance that Tatum does return this spring, suddenly this could be a championship contender (or at least a Finals team) in the East again.
That was a question raised by team insider Chris Forsberg at NBC Sports Boston on Thursday in an article titled, “Will Celtics’ early-season surge alter Brad Stevens’ trade objectives?”
Wrote Forsberg: “If the Celtics remain 1) healthy and 2) competitive through the early portion of January, it sure gives Stevens a bit more to think about. As the buyers and sellers become more apparent, there could be opportunity to shore up the center depth, even if Tatum’s eventual return could go a long way toward alleviating Boston’s defensive rebounding woes.”
Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty ImagesBrad Stevens, Boston Celtics
Centers Would Be Prime Targets
What’s more is that the Celtics need a rebounding-and-D big man–they do not need to make a deal for Domantas Sabonis or Anthony Davis or any other major star who might hit the rumor mill. They can keep their objectives modest at the trade deadline, and there could be teams able to help them in that regard.
Forsberg even has some names as possibilities.
“It’s hard not to look at some teams steamrolling towards the lottery and ponder their desire to move big men,” he wrote. “Would the Clippers deal Ivica Zubac if the wheels come off completely this season? Would the Nets entertain offers for Nic Claxton while plotting their future? Is there an even bigger swing to make at the big man spot if a team like, say, Memphis hits the reboot button?”
There’s still a lot of basketball to be played before the Celtics make such decisions. But adding ina trade is at least a possibility.
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