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Even after trading much of their roster throughout the past couple seasons, the Boston Celtics managed to make the Eastern Conference playoffs this season. Even though they made the playoffs, their rebuild is not nearly complete and this offseason is extremely important for general manager Danny Ainge and his team.
Gerald Wallace is the lone veteran left on the Celtics roster that they’d like to move. The 14-year veteran is no longer a rotation player and has one year worth $10 million left on his contract. The Celtics are already scheduled to have just under $30 million in cap space this offseason, but would love to create even more by dumping Wallace’s contract.
Wallace has negative value on the trade market since he’s no longer productive on the court and has a sizable contract. The only realistic way they’ll be able to trade the 32 year old is if they package him together with something of greater value and receive nothing in return.
The Celtics have two first-round picks (Nos. 16 and 28) in June’s upcoming draft. Pairing the No. 28 pick with Wallace would be enticing to rebuilding teams with cap space that know they won’t be playoff contenders next season. The Philadelphia 76ers proved they’re open to these type of deals when they traded for Javale McGee last season and immediately waived him.
With an additional $10 million in cap space, the Celtics would become real players on the free agent market. If Ainge in confident he’ll be able to sign a few of the top players in the class, he’d be smart to package the No. 28 pick with Wallace and accelerate the rebuild.
Seth Lassen is a writer for RantSports. ‘Like’ him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @Seth_Lassen.
