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The potential trade between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers for the coveted No. 1 overall pick is not as close as it may have seemed yesterday, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
While many thought the deal was only a Markelle Fultz medical report and a meeting away from happening, there is a lot of slow-moving parts from making this happen.
The medical report is crucial, but the strategy for the top picks this year has been for their agents to only provide them to teams their clients would like to be drafted by. So far only Boston has his data at hand.
The Sixers would likely want to meet with Fultz and make sure the medical side, the basketball, and personal ones all match congruently before shelling out a ton of value on one player.
The rare part in this scenario is that most teams have already evaluated top prospects before dangling a potential trade, but due to the nature of this draft, things haven't played along that smoothly with some of the top players refusing workouts and such.
It might take until Monday or Tuesday, according to Kyler for the deal to go through, which could present a golden opportunity for the Los Angeles Lakers to throw in the wrench and be part of the Fultz sweepstakes, whether it is to draft him or to continue the smokescreen around Lonzo Ball.
Then there's the Chicago Bulls‘ situation, where Celtics president Danny Ainge could be once again chasing two-way star Jimmy Butler in search of a secondary scorer to pair with Isaiah Thomas — but none of these potential deals will be made without a team giving Fultz a thorough look prior to engaging in a trade that could be entirely worth it or simply a wasted opportunity for one and even more years to come.
One thing is sure — Ainge won't deal the pick unless he gets exactly what he wants or more than he expected to get, he's just that poker-player type of negotiator. Whether it ends up working out for him and the Celtics is a completely different aspect, but Ainge is the type of executive to force other teams to empty their pockets, just ask the Brooklyn Nets.
