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The Boston Celtics will have some major decisions to make with their personnel over the next month. While the likes of Marcus Smart and Shane Larkin will be fishing for long-term deals and impending extensions are due for Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown, the team could be looking for a major re-shuffle.
Legendary TV voice Mike Gorman noted that president Danny Ainge will be forced to look at the bigger scope of his roster, including considering trading some of his stars.
That includes the recently-acquired Kyrie Irving, who has built a reputation for being injury-prone throughout the course of his career.
“I think Kyrie’s record over the course of his career would tell you that injuries have been a problem,” Gorman told host Evan Valenti on the Celtics Beat Podcast on CLNS Media Network. “I think you have to be smart here and look at what the facts are, and understand that they may be a problem going forward too.”
“Certainly, if you’re going to trade Kyrie you get excited because there’s a whole lot coming back,” Gorman added. “Danny [Ainge] doesn’t like to put the untouchable label on anybody. I do think [Jayson] Tatum is untouchable myself. It would take some unbelievable offer to get him away from Boston right now. But I think everyone else is in play to some degree.”
Tatum has gained major confidence from the Celtics front office, especially considering Ainge was so confident he could trade last year's No. 1 pick, knowing the Philadelphia 76ers would draft Markelle Fultz and that the Los Angeles Lakers would take Lonzo Ball, despite all the smoking mirrors to try and hide what had been a foregone conclusion from the start.
Tatum developed well, starting in his first game and delivering a quality double-double, only getting better from there and developing into a reliable scorer in the postseason.
Irving is still under contract this season and then has an opt-out clause. The floor general is likely to decline the player option and then sign a max-deal with the Celtics, who can pay him the most for his services. But Gorman says he doesn’t “think it’s a given” any longer, but if he is to remain with the team, he'll have to take a major leap forward to really raise his value and prove he can be healthy throughout a whole season.
“You’d like to see Kyrie, who’s in a contract year next year, to have the season of his career,” said Gorman. “I think the big measurement for Kyrie going forward is how many games can you reasonably get out of him.”
