Report: Boston May Try To Trade For Kyle Lowry To Replace Rajon Rondo

Paul Pierce isn’t the only one sneering at the news that Rajon Rondo is out for the year with a torn ACL. I don’t live in the Bean anymore, but I can guess the looks people are giving each other on the street. It’d be one thing if they still had the Patriots, but they lost. It’d be another if they still had the Red Sox, but they fell off. Despite a sub-.500 record, the Celts had a shot this season, and Rondo was the biggest reason why.

Yet now he’s done, and the Celtics are left with a 21-23 record, three games back from catching Milwaukee and avoiding Miami in the first round; and 2.5 games away from missing the playoffs entirely.

Boston has enough depth – Courtney Lee, Avery Bradley, Jason Terry and Leandro Barbosa – to go on without their best player. But without an upgrade, the franchise brass can’t expect anything beyond a swift exit in the playoffs. It would probably amount to the final nail in the coffin of Boston’s “Big Three” era.

Earlier this season, there were rumors the Celtics were interested in Rudy Gay, but what they have to offer (Pierce) never appealed to the Grizzlies, and the talks never advanced past rudimentary discussions. Instead, they might go after a starting-caliber point guard like Kyle Lowry. ESPN’s Marc Stein tweeted that it’s more likely Boston will pursue Lowry than Gay. The Toronto guard has one of the best contracts in basketball, making around $12 million over this season and the next. He’d also fit in nicely with Boston’s bulldog mentality.

Whatever course they choose – barreling ahead with the lineup they have or trading young assets to reel in an established guard – it’s likely we won’t see a repeat trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Should Boston trade for Lowry?

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