Small forward Gordon Hayward was traded to the Charlotte Hornets this past offseason and, in return, the Boston Celtics received a $28 million Traded Player Exception (TPE) as he signed with the Carolina club. With this TPE, Celtics President Danny Ainge now has some wiggle room to acquire a player he believes that Boston needs right now to be successful.

With players such as Marcus Smart, Payton Pritchard, and Kemba Walker all dealing with their respective injuries, and Jayson Tatum missing games due to COVID-19, the Celtics have put together an underwhelming season so far. Though the Celtics are sitting at the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, their record of 11-9 does not do justice to the winning mentality Ainge and head coach Brad Stevens have fostered the past couple of years.

Ainge has some big plans with the trade exception, as he already has some ideas of the type of player that he wants to be on the Celtics, via CBS Boston.

“I would say maybe shooting, with size,” Ainge said of his priorities on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Toucher & Rich.” “There are a lot of different ways you can win in this league. We could use shooting, we could use passing. But you always need defense and our team is built on defense. We’ve been winning with defense the last few years. I know we haven’t won a championship, but we need defense.”

If the Celtics want to be on top of the Eastern Conference and compete against teams such as the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Brooklyn Nets, Ainge will need to act quickly.