If you think the Boston Celtics might be considering a trade for Cleveland Cavaliers big man Andre Drummond, don’t get your hopes up.
At least, not on his current contract.
With reports emanating from Forbes’ Evan Dammarell that contract talks with the UConn product are not going well, it isn’t hard to understand why.
It’s the money, and his game.
Currently slated to make $28.7 million if he opts into the final season of his current deal, Drummond is all but certain to, as virtually no one is likely to pay a big man with his skillset much more than even half that rate in a market flush with cap space — which this offseason’s most certainly is not.
"The Celtics need to get through Giannis, Bam and Embiid"
and
"The Celtics should trade for Andre Drummond"
are lines of thought that move in entirely different directions. Or at least they should, but for some reason don't.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) October 21, 2020
Big Penguin — as he is called — is not a bad player, but his style of play only has situational utility in the way the game is played today, his post-oriented, rebound-at-all-costs style of play unhelpful against most starting units who have devised ways to play his style of big man off the floor.
Damarell reports the Celtics are a potential landing spot for the former Husky as a trade destination (at that price point, he is not — but he’d be a great Mid-Level Exception candidate after a buyout), and that “according to sources, the Celtics are monitoring the situation.”
We don’t doubt that they are, but more likely to see if there’s a development that changes his situation into one that makes sense with Boston.
For now, it does not.
