Boston Celtics: 10 Potential Star Trade Targets

1. Paul Millsap

If the Celtics are looking for a game-changing piece at their biggest position of need, Paul Millsap is not only the best potential fit, but one of the most likely stars to be on the trade block before the deadline.

Despite owning the fourth-best record in the East, the Atlanta Hawks are due for some regression. They’re no longer a true threat to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ reign, they just traded Kyle Korver a few weeks back, Millsap can hit free agency this summer and all signs point to trading Millsap making the most sense, even without all the trade rumors that have been swirling lately.

The question is, will Atlanta put Millsap back on the trade block rather than try to overpay for the services of a 31-year-old power forward in free agency?

And how interested is Danny Ainge in reuniting an Al Horford-Millsap frontcourt that has historically struggled with the Cleveland Cavaliers? Because as great as Millsap would be in Boston, the goal here is to make a deal that gets the Celtics over the LeBron James-shaped hump.

With Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley playing the best basketball of their careers, not to mention Jae Crowder and Marcus Smart bolstering the defense, Ainge might be inclined to think the Hawks’ former frontcourt would fare better against the Cavs this time around.

If that’s the case, there are several potential avenues for him to explore.

To match salaries and provide the Hawks with a Millsap replacement at the 4, Amir Johnson would almost have to be included. Tyler Zeller’s $8 million salary is close to Johnson’s $12 million contract, but he’s nowhere near as attractive to Atlanta as Amir.

From there, it could be a matter of choosing between Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley or Marcus Smart. IT is all but off limits in the middle of a career season, and the Hawks would probably prefer someone who could play the 2 like Bradley or Smart anyway.

Giving up either one would be a gut-punch for the Celtics, but a potentially necessary one…unless they were willing to give up one of their valuable future first round draft picks, like the rights to swap first round picks with the Brooklyn Nets this year.

That might be too much for Boston to give up, but it might spare them of surrendering Bradley or Smart, allowing them to replace that salary space with someone like Jonas Jerebko instead. They could also dangle Brooklyn’s 2018 first-rounder — another potentially valuable pick — rather than what may be the No. 1 overall pick this year.

Unfortunately, there’s no trade scenario that Atlanta would agree to where Boston keeps all of Smart, Bradley, Crowder AND one of their valuable first-rounders. Amir, Kelly Olynyk and/or Jerebko isn’t getting the job done, unless a trade chip like Jaylen Brown were also in play.

The Celtics have plenty of flexibility in putting together a deal, so it’d really be a matter of stringing together the right contracts and getting Atlanta to buy in — all without sacrificing too much of the team’s East-contending core.

It’s a difficult line to straddle, but a core of Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Millsap and Horford could absolutely push Cleveland in a seven-game series.

In the scenario where Atlanta desires Jae Crowder and decides to move the underwhelming Kent Bazemore, Boston would then have a core of Thomas, Bradley, Millsap and Horford, plus they could try to woo Gordon Hayward in free agency to reunite him with head coach Brad Stevens.

For the Hawks, they’d use Amir as a direct replacement for Horford and hope to add at least one of Bradley, Smart, Crowder or a top-five pick in next year’s draft (via Brooklyn).

In any one of these trades, the Celtics would put Millsap’s well-rounded 18.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks per game to work at the 4, but re-signing him in free agency this summer could complicate their interest in Gordon Hayward.

Still, in the ideal scenario where Boston keeps Crowder, it’s hard not to think about a starting five of Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Millsap and Horford.

Next: 10 Potential Carmelo Anthony Trades

This one really depends on how much Ainge buys into Millsap being the difference-maker he’s been looking for, because if he does, he has the assets to pry him from Atlanta.