As the Boston Celtics aim to return to the NBA Finals, they have some very important decisions to make during this offseason. No team has made it back to the Finals after losing the previous year since the Cavaliers in 2018, so they need to make sure they get it right in this summer.
The Celtics just so happen to have a way to improve their roster too, with the Traded Player Exception (TPE). They have 3 significant ones, worth $17.1 million from the Evan Fournier sign-and-trade with the Knicks, $6.9 million from the Juancho Hernangomez trade with the Grizzlies, and $5.9 million from trading Dennis Schroder to the Rockets. When news broke out that John Wall is planning to sign with the Clippers, Bill Simmons sent the NBA world a reminder that the Celtics have that $17.1 million trade exception and that he’d want them to use it to get Luke Kennard.
The Celtics still have a 17.1m trade exception. pic.twitter.com/padlUJYHzT
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) June 28, 2022
The Clippers were rumored to be open to trading Kennard who led the league last season by shooting 44.9% from beyond the arc. He is due $13.7 million in salary this coming season, which would fit into Boston’s trade exception. This would provide the Clippers with some cap relief, as currently their payroll for next season is almost at $171 million. You have to wonder who the Celtics would be willing to give up in exchange, however, as we doubt the Clippers would just give him away for the exception as they too are in win-now mode.
He would be a good fit for this Celtics team though, as they love to shoot the three as we saw in the playoffs and he was literally the most efficient shooter in the league last season as mentioned earlier. Would the Celtics be willing to part ways with any of their key rotation players to land him is a different question altogether and we wait and see if Simmons’ wish can come true.
