The Boston Celtics have been swirling around the NBA trade deadline rumor mill for what seems like forever. They're finally getting involved with a trade before the deadline with the Orlando Magic. The Celtics are acquiring Evan Fournier in the hopes it will help them space the floor moving forward.
As for the Magic, they're officially in rebuild mode, as they've conducted two trades right before the NBA trade deadline.
In a turn of events, the Boston Celtics are acquiring guard Evan Fournier, while the Orland Magic receive two second-round picks, per ESPN.
Grading Celtics NBA Trade Deadline Move
The Boston Celtics have been struggling this year, as they're currently ranked in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Danny Ainge has been searching for a trade and finally found one with the Magic.
Evan Fournier isn't an elite player in the league, however, he's a great player for the Celtics to add into their rotation. Fournier is known for his scoring prowess, as he's averaging 19.7 points, 3.7 assists, and 2.9 rebounds per game. He'll provide a boost in the Celtics scoring, which is exactly what this organization needs if they hope to make the playoffs this year.
He joins an impressive roster of Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown. Marcus Smart is still a solid player, but he's much more prominent on the defensive end. With scoring being a major issue for Boston this season, Fournier gives the Celtics exactly what was missing off of the bench. Boston walks away from this trade a much better team for the remainder of this season.
As for the Magic, they already received a haul for the Nikola Vucevic trade. In fact, they already have some decent young players and depth to build around for the future. Picking up two more second-round picks helps this organization down the road, however, they'll be struggling much more for the remainder of the season. It's not like the Magic will be upset about that, but this gives everyone else on their roster some more playing time moving forward.
The Magic might have been able to get a player had they conducted this trade with a different team, but acquiring a player doesn't seem to match up with the Magic's plan right now. With the roster making a ton of changes, Orlando will be playing everyone on the roster to see what they have moving forward.
The second-round picks give the Magic some nice future draft selections or possible trade pieces in the future. At first glance, this trade seems like a loss for the Magic, but after a deeper look, this is a solid trade for this team. Especially when you consider the amount of cap space they've dumped for their rebuild as well.
NBA TRADE DEADLINE GRADES
Boston Celtics – (B+)
Orlando Magic – (B)
The Boston Celtics receive a higher grade due to the fact they received a player who can help them make a push for the postseason. Fournier will be entering a system that will allow him to simply focus on scoring, which is all he wants to do anyway. For the Magic, they were able to gain two more draft picks for their rebuild, while also dumping off some cap space as well. A rebuild isn't an ideal situation for any team, but the Magic are going about this smartly.
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