There is no denying that the Boston Celtics are the early favorites to win the 2024 NBA Finals. Following their Christmas Day victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, the Celtics are now 23-6 on the season, dominating virtually every single team they have faced. Although they have the best starting group in the NBA, Boston's front office, led by former head coach Brad Stevens, is still looking to make moves in order to firmly lock in this team's chances of winning a title. That is why Utah Jazz big man Kelly Olynyk is now on his former team's radar.
Olynyk, who spent the first four seasons of his career in Boston, has bounced around between a lot of teams through the years. From the Miami Heat to the Houston Rockets to the Detroit Pistons to now being with the Jazz, the 32-year-old veteran is once again a reliable target for contending teams ahead of February's trade deadline.
The Celtics, who have made it known they are evaluating all options to add secondary depth this season, are monitoring Olynyk's status with the Jazz. Marc Stein was the first to report on these Olynyk rumors, claiming he is one of several veterans in Utah who could be moved ahead of this season's deadline.
Obviously, if the Jazz are to be sellers at the trade deadline, it would also make a whole lot of sense for the Celtics to pursue an experienced guard who is accustomed to being in a sixth man role such as Jordan Clarkson. While he has started for the Jazz this season, Clarkson won the 2020-21 Sixth Man of the Year award and would be the scoring weapon Boston has been missing on their bench. However, the Celtics do not have a lot of flexibility when it comes to finding more talent to add to their roster. Not to mention, Clarkson's $23.4 million contract this season would be too much to bare, while Olynyk is making just $12.2 million.
Currently owning one of the league's highest payrolls, the Celtics have already gone all-in by trading for Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis this past offseason. Nonetheless, Stevens has maintained an aggressive mindset, putting the rest of the league on notice that money will not stand in the way of the Celtics pursuing more championship-caliber players such as Olynyk.
Of course, there are still obstacles that the Celtics would need to tackle in order to have a chance at pursuing Olynyk. Specifically, they would need to part ways with a key member of their bench.
How Celtics can pursue Kelly Olynyk
Kelly Olynyk's $12.2 million contract this season is an expiring one. From the Celtics' point of view, he is the ideal type of trade target this season due to the team not having to worry about any long-term contractual stress. As things stand right now, Boston is going to be paying Jaylen Brown close to $300 million through the 2028-29 season and Jayson Tatum is next in line to receive a massive extension.
Basically, the Celtics can only add smaller, one-year contract to their roster unless they want to limit their ability to retain Tatum and have a sustainable tax bill. Pursuing a player like Jordan Clarkson is not really reasonable for the reasons outlined above. However, Olynyk's contract is significantly less than Clarkson's and Boston does have a path to reacquiring the versatile big man.
In order to pursue Olynyk in a trade, the Celtics would need to do their best to match his $12.2 million incoming salary. A package revolving around Payton Pritchard, Luke Kornet, Oshae Brissett, another small contract, and draft picks technically works and can make the transaction successful, but why would the Jazz do this?
Kornet, Brissett, and any other minimum contract player would be of no use to Utah. Pritchard does draw some intrigue, though, especially since Danny Ainge was the one who drafted him and now has his fingerprints all over the Jazz front office. From the Celtics' point of view, giving up three or four players, plus draft assets, for an extra big man on the bench does not bring many advantages. This move would immediately force the Celtics to spend even more money by adding minimum contract players for the rest of the year.
While Pritchard may be a player the Jazz have some interest in, this scenario is nothing more than something you would see in NBA 2K.
The real scenario the Celtics face when evaluating options on how to pursue Olynyk is one that involves Al Horford. His $10 million contract this season is really the only way the Celtics could facilitate this contract with the Jazz. Trading Horford and one of their players on a minimum contract works for Boston from a financial perspective, yet the Jazz would likely want more value since Horford still has $9.5 million on his deal for next season.
The logistics from here become nothing but hypotheticals, as there is no telling as to if the Jazz would want someone like Pritchard, two second-round picks, or a first-round pick in addition to Horford for Olynyk. There is also the possibility that another team could be involved to facilitate the deal and take on Horford's contract.
No matter what would occur, the Celtics do not have many options when it comes to pursue Olynyk from the Jazz. Almost every scenario that makes sense would involve dumping Horford, a move that could wind up throwing off the chemistry of this team given the veteran's leadership behind the scenes. Plus, Horford is still effective on the court, especially when it comes to defending the likes of Joel Embiid.
Kelly Olynyk's fit with Celtics
If the Celtics were to add Olynyk to their rotation right now without moving Horford, they would have virtually everything needed to win their 18th championship. Holiday and Derrick White would run the backcourt, Tatum and Brown would give Boston everything they need scoring wise on the wing, and the frontcourt would have Porzingis, Horford, and Olynyk as options who can play inside and out.
Bringing in Olynyk to replace Horford is not the worst idea in the world, especially given the Jazz big man is a better long-range shooter than Horford. Whereas Olynyk is a better shooter, Horford is a better rebounder and defender.
This is basically a balancing scale and the Celtics would have to make a decision on which attributes better suit them on their championship journey. There's no denying that Olynyk would make them a better team, but would he do so at the cost of Horford?
The Celtics have been the best team in the NBA to this point in the season, which has led many to believe that the pursuit of players on eight-digit contracts just isn't feasible. Making trades ahead of the deadline however is not out of the realm of possibilities for Boston.
Stevens and this front office still have a $6.2 million player exception that can be utilized this season. It is much more likely that the Celtics will consider players who fit in this salary range rather than someone like Olynyk that would require the team giving up at least one of their key contributors.
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