Boston Celtics: Initial takeaways from the Juancho Hernangomez trade

Right when you thought Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was finally going to take a vacation, he makes another move.

After a flurry of trades to start the offseason, Boston had 16 players (15 guaranteed) on the roster and many wondered what the next move would be.

Well, today we have our answer as an early afternoon Woj bomb reported that the Celtics acquired the 26-year old Spanish product Juancho “Juan” Hernangomez from the Memphis Grizzles.

Here is a breakdown of the latest transaction.

The Celtics add frontcourt depth with the acquisition of Juan Hernangomez.

The glaring hole the Celtics had before this move was depth at the power forward spot, especially a forward with the ability to stretch the floor, something the Celtics haven’t had since the days of Kelly Olynk.

Hernangomez can come in and provide another scoring spark off the bench. The 26-year old posted averages of 7.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game on 44-33-62 shooting splits in 52 games played with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Like many players, Hernangomez struggled last year in the shortened season. A career 35.1 percent shooter from three saw his average dip during the 2020-21 campaign to 32.7 percent.

Similar to many of the other moves made by Stevens this summer, the Celtics are hoping for a bounce-back year. With Grant Williams coming off a shaky sophomore season, the Celtics want some flexibility at the four spot to ensure they can have a reliable option coming off the bench.

If Hernangomez can be a reliable three-point threat, he will fit in just fine alongside the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Speaking of flexibility, Brad Stevens had that in mind once again with this trade, as Hernangomez’s contract for the 2022-23 season is non-guaranteed, keeping the Celtics offseason agenda for next summer in check.

It was apparent that there was a log jam at the guard spot for Boston so it is no surprise to see both Kris Dunn and Carsen Edwards delt.

Initially, Dunn looked to have a spot in the Celtics rotation, and many fans dreamed about what the Marcus Smart-Dunn defensive backcourt would look like, but once Boston struck gold with Dennis Schroder Dunn’s future with the team became uncertain.

More from Boston Celtics

• Why the new and improved Celtics are a major threat
• These two Celtics will be crucial to unlocking Kristaps Porzingis’ potential
• The new-look Celtics are closer than ever to an 18th title
• 3 Reasons Boston will regret trading Marcus Smart
• Ranking the 5 best available power forwards in 2023 NBA free agency

Carsen Edwards joins Tremont Waters as the second player from the Celtics’ 2019 rookie class to move on from Beantown.

Edwards had high expectations coming out of Purdue as he looked to be yet another small-guard heat check type of scorer in the NBA. While he erupted for 26 points in the third quarter during a preseason game in Cleavland back in 2019, that never truly translated to the regular season.

You can turn to Stevens not giving the young guard enough opportunity, but the Celtics always had enough sufficient guard play for Edwards to ever get a chance to see meaningful floor time.

The hope is that Edwards can find his footing on a new team with hopefully more of a defined role in Memphis.

Both sides benefit from this deal as Boston and Memphis needed to trim their rosters down.

This move may also spell the end of Jabari Parker’s time in green. His contract is non-guaranteed and with Hernangomez filling the void of frontcourt depth, there isn’t much of a need to bring Parker back. Parker showed flashes last season that he still has something left in the tank, it all depends on how Stevens views the roster and if he has another move up his sleeve.

As Stevens likes to say, the Celtics continue to hit singles. All of these moves have put the team in a position to win now and keep their chances of adding a third star alive.

While the Hernangomez trade isn’t the biggest splash we’ve seen this summer, it ultimately gives the Celtics more depth, flexibility, and caps off a tremendous first offseason from Brad Stevens.