The Boston Celtics appear ready to make a big splash in the Eastern Conference. According to reports, Boston is looking for not one, but two major stars to help them keep pace with LeBron James and company in the East.
Adrian Wojnarowski—soon to be of ESPN—reported on Tuesday that Celtics GM Danny Ainge is looking to acquire both Paul George from the Indiana Pacers as well as Gordon Hayward.
George still has a season left on his deal with the Pacers, so he would need to be brought over in a trade. Hayward, however, is a free agent in July. In fact, trying to get both players may be what’s holding up any movement on the Paul George front in the first place. Via The Vertical:
For salary-cap purposes, Boston wants a Hayward commitment before it can finalize a trade for George and secure the most dynamic free-agent coup in franchise history, league sources said.
For Boston, here’s the hitch: While Indiana believes Boston can offer the best possible package, the Pacers may be unwilling to wait until the start of July free agency on Boston’s timetable and could turn toward making a deal elsewhere for George, league sources told The Vertical.
The timetable is what’s tough here, and the clock is ticking for George. The Pacers originally wanted to get a deal done before the NBA Draft but couldn’t make it work. The Pacers feel behind the eight ball because of the timing of George’s announcement that he wouldn’t return after 2018, so it’s not likely they will be patient with the Celtics and watch George’s value as a rental diminish further.
And then there’s the salary cap issue the Celtics would have to fix in order to fit both superstars on the roster.
Celtics acquiring Hayward + George is relatively easy. Sign Hayward into room (nearly there already). Send back $14.5M+ in trade for George.
— Albert Nahmad (@AlbertNahmad) June 27, 2017
Not exactly easy as pie to make all that happen, but clearly Ainge things it’s possible. This is a GM who just last week suggested teams would not be so eager to take risks to compete with the Cavaliers and Warriors, and yet here we are.
Boston getting both George and Hayward this summer would be a significant stroke of fortune in an offseason that started curiously with the trading of the first overall pick, but if Ainge can pull it off, it would be a landscape-altering deal in the Eastern Conference. Especially when you consider how aggressively the Cavaliers are after George and how much John Wall would like to see him play in Washington.
