The Boston Celtics failed to acquire Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans, and with the imminent departure of Kyrie Irving and possibly even Al Horford, they suddenly find themselves with a good amount of cap space.
But instead of going after top-tier free agents this summer, the Celtics may look for trades that will allow them to acquire future assets, according to Brian Robb of the Boston Sports Journal:
The Celtics have remained active in the days before the NBA Draft. League sources told BostonSportsJournal.com that Boston has had discussions with multiple teams about absorbing a large veteran contract with their anticipated salary cap space. The team is exploring leveraging that cap space into additional future assets (players and/or picks) in exchange for taking on a contract another team is looking to get rid of.
It is unclear if the Celtics have gained significant traction with any team toward this kind of trade. They should have plenty of options between now and the start of free agency, though, as there are a lot of teams anxious to get rid of bad contracts.
One option the Celtics could consider is exploring another trade with the New Orleans Pelicans. They have a lot of assets in the future (their own picks and those they acquired by trading Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers). The Celtics could convince the Pelicans to trade them an asset or two by also absorbing Solomon Hill.
The Celtics are sure to make a flurry of moves during the draft and free agency. They seem to be prepared to use next season as a stepping stone for their bigger plans moving forward.
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