NBA Trade Rumors: 5 Teams That Should Trade For Joe Johnson

3. Boston Celtics

General manager Danny Ainge has been looking to package all his stockpiled assets and put them to good use in bringing the Boston Celtics a legitimate superstar. Seven-time All-Star Joe Johnson isn’t that guy at age 34, but it’s starting to look like the Celtics have a problem: too many talented guards in the backcourt.

To be fair, that’s a great problem to have. But am I the only person that thinks Marcus Smart is just going to be another Tony Allen — a tremendous and versatile defender who makes big hustle plays and gets the crowd fired up but can’t make a shot outside of 15 feet to save his life?

In his second season, Smart is averaging 7.9 points per game, shooting 30.8 percent from the field and 20.6 percent from three-point range. The crowd feeds on his fiery attitude on the nights when he’s playing well, but sometimes he just makes downright dumb decisions that cost his team games.

At age 21, that’s to be expected at times, and injuries have also played a part in Smart’s dismal shooting. But Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley are both on the books through the 2017-18 season at bargain prices, and in the 21 games Smart has missed this season, the Celtics went 12-9 with those two starting in the backcourt. With Smart active, Boston has gone 8-10.

Those are small sample sizes, but there’s a logjam in the backcourt before even mentioning the names of R.J. Hunter, James Young and Terry Rozier. David Lee is an expiring contract and Jonas Jerebko, while being a decent contributor, is nothing more than a role player.

If Ainge deems all three to be expendable, this trade would free up extra cap space for the summer AND bring in another excellent defender who’d be right at home in Brad Stevens’ system.

From the Nets’ perspective, they’d be trading one defensive youngster who’s a jump shot away from being a stud for another defensive youngster who’s a jump shot away from being a stud. They’d also be getting a solid rotation player in Jerebko and an entertaining double-double guy in David Lee, who could easily be let go at the end of the season as an expiring contract.

If the Nets enjoyed his play with Lee being given an opportunity to impress on an 11-win team, they could always re-sign him for a more modest price than his current $15 million salary.

The Celtics would be giving up the best player in this deal, which is why it probably won’t happen, but the point needs to be made that out of Boston’s three point guards, it’s starting to feel like Thomas and Bradley give them the best chance to win moving forward.