The Boston Celtics have been busy clearing their books out of the second apron this offseason, trading Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday as they attempt to shed salary. The Celtics are facing a 2025-26 season in which they are unlikely to be too competitive considering the fact that Jayson Tatum will likely be sidelined the entire year with an Achilles injury.
In all likelihood, the upcoming season will be treated as a means of figuring out how Boston can hit the ground once Tatum returns in 2026-27, and trade and free agency targets are already being floated as new potential Tatum co-stars for that season.
Recently, Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young stirred the pot when he appeared to like a tweet of an AI-generated photo of him in a Celtics uniform.
While some folks on X, formerly Twitter, were skeptical of this, the user who created the initial post, @Alexzachary305, went on to provide a screen recording which indeed showed Young's name among the likes on the tweet.
https://x.com/Alexzachary305/status/1952834393468264632
This all comes in the wake of reporting from Marc J. Spears that Young was ‘disappointed' that the Hawks have not yet offered him the max contract he's seeking ahead of next season.
An interesting Celtics target
While the Celtics have been busy shedding salary this offseason, the Hawks have been attempting to give Young the best roster he's had thus far in his career, including coincidentally acquiring Porzingis from Boston via trade.
Still, if the Hawks and Young don't see eye-to-eye on a new contract extension, it's not outside the realm of possibility that the All-Star could look for greener (in this case, quite literally) pastures.
In theory, Young could slide into the point guard position alongside Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, a healthy Jayson Tatum, and whoever Boston comes up with to answer their center problem over the next year.
Young would help take some of the playmaking pressure off of Tatum as he returns from injury and give the Celtics their most talented passer since Rajon Rondo.
However, it's important to note that at this point in the doldrums of the NBA offseason, players have been known to do things like interact with cryptic social media posts just to spice things up.
