The Boston Celtics made a small trade last night, and more could follow. In addition to Dennis Schröder, Al Horford and Josh Richardson are also likely to be available. Brad Stevens also spoke about the German international.
This is reported by Jared Weiss The Athletic. Accordingly, the Celtics should offer the 35-year-old Horford within the league to bring another big man into the squad. Horford only returned to Boston in the summer after signing with the Philadelphia 76ers in the summer of 2019.
The Celtics traded Horford back from OKC last summer, giving up Kemba Walker and the 16th draft pick in return. The Thunder later traded this pick to Houston, where the Rockets finally picked the Turkish Big Man Alperen Sengün.
Horford already played for the Celtics between 2016 and 2019 and has 10.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists this season. The veteran mostly plays alongside Rob Williams on the four, but that creates problems with spacing as Horford sinks just 28 percent of his roughly four hat-tricks per game.
This season Horford still collects $ 27 million, in the coming year only 14.5 of the 26.5 million are guaranteed. In addition to Horford, the Celtics are also scanning the market for Josh Richardson, who came via trade from Dallas in the summer. Boston then promptly extended the shooting guard’s contract for another year to 2023 for $12.2 million.
Celtics boss Brad Stevens talks about Dennis Schröder
In addition to the duo, there have recently been some rumors about a possible trade by Dennis Schröder. Celtics President Brad Stevens addressed this in a recent interview with Jay King (The Athletic), but didn’t want to be looked at. “I wanted him to come here and play as well as possible. He did that, I won’t say more about that.”
The former Celtics coach has been busy the past few days, threading a three-team deal with Denver and San Antonio. The Celtics repelled Juancho Hernangomez and received two injured players, Bol Bol and PJ Dozier, whose contracts are expiring. The move saved the Celtics a little money, but the franchise is still around a million over the luxury tax limit.
It can be assumed that a trade will take the Celtics below this limit, especially since the season has been disappointing so far. With a record of 23-23, the Celtics are only ninth in the Eastern Conference.