Celtics trade two veterans and a young wing to secure the team’s third star in new B/R trade proposal

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The part of the NBA season where we start to see blockbuster trade deals proposed en masse by analysts of the sport is starting in earnest with the availability of players who signed deals over the summer to be traded beginning a little less than two weeks from now.

And one such blockbuster trade projection was put together by Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes that would see the Boston Celtics finally get their third star by shipping out some players who have deep roots with the team. The proposal is not far off from a similar deal proposed on an episode of our in-house “Celtics Lab” podcast, so we aren’t opposed to the deal in principle, though the ask would sting quite a bit.

Let’s take a look at Hughes’ hypothetical deal.

In essence, Boston trades veterans Marcus Smart and Al Horford plus rising Celtics wing Romeo Langford for Pascal Siakam and Goran Dragic.

As Hughes notes, the deal couldn’t happen until January 25 due to Smart signing an extension this summer, but when you look at the deal, it makes sense for both sides, as the B/R analyst explains.

“It feels wrong to boot Marcus Smart from the Boston Celtics,” he begins, and we very much agree.

“The fiery defensive dynamo has been a key factor in four conference finals appearances and, despite persistent overconfidence in his shot, has done far more good than harm during his eight seasons with the team.”

And while we have pushed back on moving Smart just for the sake of moving him, a return focused on flipping him, Horford, and promising but-injury-prone wing Langford for Siakam that doesn’t sacrifice playmaking or flexibility in the frontcourt deserves a second thought.

Such a deal gives “the Celtics a fearsome, fully switchable, kinda-sorta centerless look that could help unlock new dimensions on both ends” and his “assist percentage is quietly right on track” with Horford’s.

The fit in terms of age and ability is also a positive, even if we feel Hughes is underselling Horford on the latter, if not the former.

“Siakam is also shooting it better from the field and from deep, and he’s eight years younger than Horford, putting him more in line with the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown age band. Robert Williams III can still start alongside Tatum, Brown and Siakam, but it’s easy to imagine the Celtics downsizing to close games.”

We do not agree that moving Smart would help “some of the tension in Boston” to “ease in his absence,” however, seeing as there does not seem to be any to speak of, at least recently.

And while Toronto “probably hoped to get more for (Dragic) in trade” it “at least beats a buyout,” which is where his future almost certainly lies if he is not packaged with another, younger player.

Horford would also sting to see go, but would be closer at least to his family home in Michigan, and would “give Toronto the reliable center it’s lacked since losing the Marc Gasol-Serge Ibaka tandem in 2020 free agency.”

We also see Langford as more than salary ballast in the deal, as the young wing could well be a solid starter or maybe even more with some luck — and health — in the future.

All in all, if the trade or something close to it were on the table for Boston, we’d have to think long and hard about pulling the trigger.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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