The Boston Celtics are looking to be very active in the upcoming offseason and there might be teams willing to help make that happen. Boston is finally moving past the Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and they have the salary cap space, assets and draft picks to help make an impact on the roster this offseason. While a draft-day trade is still being considered, the Celtics are eyeing other trade options once free agency starts.
According to Zach Lowe of Grantland.com, the Celtics are very interested in acquiring Ty Lawson from the Denver Nuggets despite having both Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart. Well, according to Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post, Lawson is very much available for deals along with everyone else on the roster outside of Jusuf Nurkic and Danilo Gallinari. Lawson is not an easy contract to bring on. The point guard has two more years left on his deal while being set to earn $12 million and $13 million over the next two seasons. Boston must determine just how committed they are in Smart and Thomas being the point guard duo.
While Boston might be able to get a deal for Lawson, a trade for DeMarcus Cousins is no longer an option. The Celtics have been eyeing the big man for a year now, even considering a deal that included Rondo at a certain time. However, according to Sacramento Kings vice president Vlade Divac via CBSSports.com, Cousins is "untradeable" as the center is a player the franchise plans to build around.
For the Celtics, that could mean a deal for Willie Cauley-Stein might be a priority. A.Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com reported the Celtics are considering a jump up the draft boards for a big man with Cauley-Stein as the main target. The Celtics have also been linked to DeMarre Carroll, Greg Monroe, Marc Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge for defense help. The Celtics can acquire that in many different ways and team president Danny Ainge told the media the team will look at all options.
"We've tried to put ourselves in the game -- to have those options and to have some opportunities to make big moves," said Ainge, via ESPNBoston.com. "So I guess that if they're big moves that we like, we do them. If they're big moves that we're not in love with, then we hold off and we wait. Those are the challenging ones. Some of them are very easy to determine; some are very challenging and take a lot of investigation, thought, debate and discussion on our side. But I think you can't just determine that you're gonna wait or you're gonna do it -- it all depends on those opportunities."
