While a lot of attention has been focused on what the Boston Celtics will do to improve the team with their $28.5 million traded player exception (TPE), they may want to make a call regarding a player who’d fit very nicely into the $5 million exception created by dealing away center Enes Kanter.
That player, forward John Collins, is on an expiring deal for $4.2 million and looking for big money on the open market in the coming offseason. While Boston will probably want to avoid losing the cap flexibility they shelled out draft assets to the Charlotte Hornets to retain, a deal for Collins would allow them to do so, while also hedging their bets in case the Hawks big man ends up garnering a better-value deal than expected.
Boston should throw a bunch of stuff at Atlanta for Collins. Pick a combo of 3-4 of the kids (Williamses, Langford, Nesmith) and picks. And then also swap Rondo for Teague.
Teague seems to be good in Atlanta and Rondo gets to come back full circle with Boston.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 12, 2021
The question in the way of such a move until now is whether Atlanta even had any interest in moving the big man, but in a recent piece in The Athletic, Sam Amick relates that the franchise is “shown a willingness to listen to offers for Collins”.
Amick is sure to note his contribution is so important it seems unlikely the forward will actually be moved, but Boston has several players Atlanta might conceivably be interested in if the reticence is more posturing than not.
This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!
