The Boston Celtics are undergoing a radical change this season after trading away stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets and while Danny Ainge and head coach Brad Stevens have said that they want to keep Rajon Rondo, the team may end up trading him as well.
According to the Boston Globe's Gary Washburn, the Detroit Pistons remain interested in trading for Rondo despite just dealing for Brandon Jennings and on top of that, the Celtics may be considering working on deals with other teams. The Celtics may wait to see whether Rondo returns from his torn ACL injury at full strength before making a move, but Bleacher Report puts out a number of teams where a trade could work for both sides, with two being the Indiana Pacers and the Utah Jazz.
Granger is coming back to the Pacers after a lost season due to a knee injury and the Jazz could be in play after drafting guard Trey Burke and the team could also possibly add Gordon Hayward into the deal as well. Both teams would benefit greatly from a Rondo trade and the Pacers could upgrade their offense even more with Rondo working with players like Paul George and Roy Hibbert. Granger is coming back after knee issues to a team where he may not be starting anymore, as the Pacers made it to the Eastern conference finals without him last season.
Granger played in just a few games and Lance Stephenson stepped up big time, making coach Frank Vogel wonder if the team could possibly bench Granger next season and have him come off as the sixth man. If Granger isn't cool with that, he could ask for a trade and the Pacers already made one big move this offseason by trading for Luis Scola from the Suns and they could follow that with another move here. Granger averaged just 5.4 points while coming off the bench in those games and while he might not be at full strength, neither is Rondo right now and since both are high-priced stars, a deal could work out.
Rondo tore his ACL in January and he is expected to be back at full strength soon, but ACL injuries can be tough to deal with and Celtics found it hard to recover without him. Rondo is now the most important player to the franchise whether he is traded or not and he was injured after averaging 13.7 points, 11.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds in 38 games last season for Boston. The Pistons have shown interest in acquiring Rondo despite already trading for Brandon Jennings and Joe Dumars has been linked to the team multiple times this offseason.
Many felt that after getting Jennings the team would stand pat, but there is chance that he acquired Jennings from the Bucks to use as a piece himself to get Rondo to Detroit. Jennings moves teams after averaging over 17 points and a career high 6.5 assists and he also had averages of 17 points, 5.7 assists and 2.4 turnovers during his four seasons with the Bucks and at 23 he is much younger than Rondo is.
The Celtics could trade for the two one to one, or a third team could come in and that could include franchises like the Pacers or Jazz depending on how discussions go. The Pacers are already dangerous with Paul George, David West and Roy Hibbert and adding Rondo would put them over the top against the Miami Heat. The Jazz could surprise as well, as while they like Burke and Hayward , they would much rather have someone like Rondo in the fold and Hayward could end up back with his former head coach in Brad Stevens on the Celtics.
