With massive news breaking on Monday that New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis has requested a trade and will eventually be playing for a new team, the rest of the league is waiting to see which team that will be.
There is a significant belief that the Los Angeles Lakers could be the lucky team to land Davis, especially if they act fast. Much of the reasoning behind that is due to the Boston Celtics being stuck in a uniquely difficult bargaining position.
The Celtics have had their eye on A.D. for quite some time now, but with the recent acquisition of Kyrie Irving in the 2017 offseason, trading for him would prove a little tricky.
The Rose Rule, which was added to the current CBA in 2011, allows players coming off their rookie deal who met certain stipulations to receive extensions worth 30 percent of their team’s cap, rather than the previous limit of 25 percent.
However, NBA teams are only allowed to have one player on a “Rose Rule” extended contract that were acquired via trade. This means that the only way Boston could trade for Davis prior to Irving’s pending free agency on July 1, would be to trade Irving.
While consideration of moving him may seem outrageous at first, it could be a great play by Boston.
Outside of winning the Davis sweepstakes, there are two major reasons Boston would trade Kyrie. The first is that his future with the team is less certain day by day. After announcing prior to the season that he planned to re-sign with the Celtics, recent reports have indicated that he may not be a lock to return for Boston after all.
The addition of events like his phone call with LeBron and what appears to be the mending of their relationship, as well as Kyrie’s struggles with leadership and playing alongside the young Celtics roster, lend way for at least some pessimism about his plans this summer.
If there’s a chance he walks for nothing, the team is better off trading him for something- especially if that something is a 25-year-old Anthony Davis.
The second factor that could lead Danny Ainge to consider parting with his star point guard is the way the young players have developed with and without Kyrie. So far this season, young Celtics, namely Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Terry Rozier, have all seemed to regress or stagnate in terms of growth despite showing out just a season ago.
There is some reason to believe that Irving’s presence is, to some degree, getting in the way of the young player’s development. For instance, Jaylen Brown shoots 14.3 percent better from deep and averages 4.2 more points per 36 minutes when Kyrie is off the court, according to NBA.com. Terry Rozier sees a similar jump of 9.5 percent on his 3-pointers when playing without Kyrie.
Having someone not quite as ball-dominant as the focal point of the team could benefit the Celtics by letting their young players continue to grow.
The key to an Irving for Davis swap for Boston lies in a third team. It is unlikely that Irving would want to re-sign in New Orleans, so finding a third team where Kyrie would be willing to stick around long term would be the best way to appease everyone.
Out of his list of 4 teams from his trade request back in Cleveland, two teams are in great position to bring in Kyrie and send out quality assets for New Orleans: the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs.
The Knicks could send out their upcoming 2019 first round pick, which will likely be first, or close to first overall, in addition to a young player like Kevin Knox or Frank Ntilikina. They would then be able to pair Irving with Kristaps Porzingis.
San Antonio could offer a deal that includes young guards like Dejounte Murray and Derrick White, as well as DeMar DeRozan. They would still be able to retain many of their picks and get to bring Irving into a historic organization that still has some viable roster pieces.
Boston would possibly have to send out some picks as well to appease New Orleans, but a three-team trade could end up being a legitimate option to making all parties happy.
As of right now, the Celtics will not have the opportunity to involve themselves in trade talks for Davis until July if they want to pair him along with Irving and bank on that being their core moving forward.
However, if they want to try to add Davis to the young team that fought their way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last season, there is a trade to be made.
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