With the NBA in the thick of its annual trade season, fans of the Boston Celtics who have become accustomed to their favorite team making moves to fortify their roster in a quest for a ball club capable of winning it all may find themselves disappointed by what the Celtics do ahead of the 2024 trade deadline. But with the best record in the league and a boatload of constraints imposed by the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), there may be little in the way of trades to be made.
Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens alluded to this while speaking to the media at practice today, hinting that Boston’s best chance to get better could be an internal process. But he also tantalized with a hint that there is one area in particular that might be improved via trade.
“Every year around this time, how do we improve to give ourselves the best chance,” asked Stevens rhetorically via NBC Boston Sports.
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“There are different ways to do it obviously you can improve from within,” he added. “We can get better at what we do on both ends of the court and hopefully make strides individually and … how we fit together.”
“And then you can improve from free agency or trades … I do think that the key to us is going to be the improvement from within. I would like to continue to see how we can find another big wing that can help us, and I think that could be from within, and I also think we will continue to monitor free agency and trades.”
“But again, the difference this year and maybe other years is our tools are pretty limited,” suggested Stevens, alluding to the CBA and roster construction.
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 4, 2024
Between the fact that Boston has few larger contracts of players to aggregate to new rules which limit aggregating minimum salaries, a number of challenges exist on the team’s side in finding a larger wing who would be an upgrade externally.
But it would not surprise if the usually secretive team president has a target in mind and perhaps even a conversation started about.
Even with the nod to the players currently on the roster as potentially being able to seize a larger role in the meantime.
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