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The Celtics formalized a trade over the weekend by handing over Moses Brown to the Dallas Mavericks against veteran winger Josh Richardson. However, the team’s second three-team trade involving big man Tristan Thompson has yet to be processed, opening the door for a bigger deal as free agency begins this week.
The initial trade was agreed to by league sources on Friday, with the Celtics acquiring Kris Dunn and Bruno Fernando from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Tristan Thompson. The Hawks then agreed to send Thompson to the Sacramento Kings for guard Delon Wright, expanding the deal to a three-team trade.
This deal was expected to be done by Sunday as it conceded the end of the NBA league year and the expiration of one of the Boston traded player exceptions (Enes Kanter) who would have been helpful in closing the deal.
However, Sunday came and went with no deal being processed, meaning Kanter’s $ 4.7 million trade exception expired without being used for Boston. This does not mean that the original deal still cannot be executed as planned. Boston has two other business exceptions that they can use to absorb Dunn and Fernando’s contracts while also creating a new, larger business exception for Tristan Thompson’s 2021-22 salary of $ 9.7 million.
Still, the Celtics likely didn’t let a trade exception go to waste this weekend for no good reason. Brad Stevens let this happen for one of two reasons:
1. The Celtics wanted to create a bigger exception for traded players: This is a simple explanation, although more unlikely. Waiting until the league’s New Year to formalize the trade allows Boston to create a larger trade acceptance worth $ 9.7 million instead of $ 9.2 million. That little bump could be beneficial down the line in a separate transaction for a bigger paycheck.
2. Boston and the other teams involved are looking for a way to expand the business: Atlanta, Sacramento, and Boston are all over the cap teams heading to free agencies, leaving them with limited options to improve their list without transactions. A complex three-team transaction like this involving large outbound salaries and business exceptions leaves plenty of room for other teams to get involved. Whether the trio of teams want to serve as a facilitator for another trade during their offseason, or one of the teams wants to try and acquire a different player from a new team by finding a way to fit them into that deal, l he opportunity is there to grow this agreement.
The Celtics specifically have an opening to grab a bit more salary in trading using Tristan Thompson for salary matching if they find a good game. Since they include Dunn and Fernando in the business exceptions, they could earn up to $ 14.8 million in business wages if they didn’t want to create a business exception with Thompson’s salary.
There are a slew of players making less than $ 15 million and would be more attractive additions to Boston in such a deal. A few possible candidates who would fit this salary position were covered in June as options for Gordon Hayward’s remaining business exception (worth $ 11 million). However, a few names that could be added to this list include
Malik Beasley $ 14.3 million
Thaddeus Young: $ 14.1 million
Joe Ingles: $ 14 million
Jonas Valanciunas: $ 14 million
TJ Warren $ 12.7 million
Marvin Bagley: $ 11.3 million
Additional compensation should be involved for any of these names via draft picks or other players, but it’s a route the Celtics could choose to take depending on how their own free agent pursuits occur. For example, if Evan Fournier signs elsewhere, the door would be open for a Celtics to potentially take more pay than expected in a trade and stay on budget.
There is no guarantee that a new part of the deal will be made after the deadline, but the door is now open for all parties involved to expand this deal if they find a good fit. Being patient on the free agency front could end up paying off for Boston or another team involved in that initial deal.
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