Jayson Tatum’s unfortunate Achilles injury suffered against the New York Knicks in Game 4 of the 2025 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals may have effectively removed the Boston Celtics from title contention for the 2025-26 season.
Still, Boston could make an effort to support their 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown and relieve some of the organization’s finance-related stress by completing a desperately-needed offseason trade.
The Celtics will likely need to let go of at least one integral piece of their 2024 NBA championship team, and recent updates have indicated that the franchise may decide to sacrifice their floor-spacing former All-Star center Kristaps Porzingis.
In fact, one NBA writer has suggested that the team should offer a Porzingis trade to the Portland Trail Blazers in an effort to potentially reconvene with a former team member and massively important figure in their run to the 2022 NBA Finals.
“One crazy trade idea has the Celtics trading Porzingis to the Portland Trail Blazers for old friend Robert Williams III,” Boston Celtics on SI’s Ryan Stano wrote Friday.
“Boston traded Williams III away in order to acquire Jrue Holiday from Portland.”
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“Williams III is younger and cheaper than Porzingis, but it certainly is not a shoo-in that this would be a good idea. The Celtics were unhappy with how little Porzingis has played for them over the past couple of years.”
Sure, Williams III has not been the picture of health and on-court consistency since leaving Boston via trade in the summer of 2023, but his return could mark a seismic shift in play-style and possible success for the club in 2025-26 and beyond.
The two-way big man’s magnum opus campaign came in 2021-22 with Boston, as he contributed 10.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and 0.9 steals, earning a seventh-place finish in 2022 Defensive Player of the Year voting and an All-Defensive Second Team selection.
When healthy, Williams III is an absolute force to be reckoned with as a reliable lob-finisher and elite shot-blocker. His mix of incredible athleticism and strength could provide Brown with an excellent sidekick in Tatum’s extended absence.
In just 20 appearances for the Trail Blazers this past regular season, the 6-foot-9 high-flier averaged 5.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks while connecting on 64.1% of his attempts from the field.
Trading one injury prone center for another might not be at the top of the Celtics’ list of priorities, but the upside of landing a healthy Williams III to pair with Brown as a solid pick-and-roll partner and rim-deterrent could convince their general manager Brad Stevens to pull the trigger on a deal in the near future.
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