Boston has made some big moves this offseason, but the beneficiary often hasn’t been the Celtics.
Over the past several weeks, the Celtics have been among the most active teams in the league. While things have begun to quiet down in Boston, more moves could be on the horizon.
Regardless of what moves the Celtics make in the closing stages of the offseason, they are unlikely to make any moves bigger than what they started with. To begin the offseason, Boston dealt Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to the Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks, respectively, to help settle their financial situation.
While sending Porzingis to the Hawks wasn’t a rough move on its own, losing Luke Kornet and likely Al Horford in free agency has left Boston’s frontcourt gutted. Meanwhile, CBS Sports’ Brad Botkin recently named the Hawks’ move to add Porzingis as one of the most underrated of the offseason.
That makes sense on plenty of fronts. The Hawks were able to buy low on Porzingis, who had an unimpressive second year in Boston, dealing with a mystery illness to finish the season.
Although Porzingis hasn’t yet suited up for Atlanta, the consensus seems to be that the Hawks got a steal and a potential big man star to form an elite duo with Trae Young. Considering Boston did the deal to help get under the second apron, its lackluster return makes the trade understandable.
However, if the Hawks can find some success with Porzingis and vault toward the top of the Eastern Conference, it will be at least a little embarrassing that Georges Niang is all Boston has to show for it.
