Report: Celtics still looking to utilize trade exception?

[Roy H.]

The conventional wisdom around the NBA after the Boston Celtics elected to trade for Indiana Pacers point guard Malcolm Brogdon was that the team was unlikely to use its $17.1 million traded player exception to take on more salary after the Brogdon deal pushed them well into the league’s luxury tax range. But, new reporting from The Athletic’s Jared Weiss suggests that might not be the case.

“The Celtics are still exploring opportunities to utilize the $17.1 million Evan Fournier trade exception (TPE) that expires on July 18,” writes Weiss, who notes that any such use would likely be part of a trade sending out a rotation player “or to acquire someone on a relatively small salary.”

The team still needs a sturdier presence in the paint as a style of reserve big man not currently on the roster who might also be able to play big regular-season minutes.

Such a trade might be a possible way for the team to roll some of the utility of the TPE forward without losing all of the resource — and without incurring a monstrous tax bill with Boston already about $20 million into the tax.

With Weiss’ sources suggesting we’ll be seeing much less of Al Horford in the regular season to preserve him for the playoffs, using that TPE might prove a critical tool.

Does anybody have access to Weiss's original article?  I'm wondering what he's envisioning here.  Does he see us trading (for instance) Derrick White to a team with cap space?  We then take a player in making much less money via the trade exception, and create a new trade exception in the process?

To me, the only use of the trade exception I want to see is taking back Seth Curry after we trade Brown, Grant and PP for Durant.  Lol.

[Celtics2021]

Rumblings that the Nets are not interested in taking on DeAndre Ayton mean third-party teams will likely be involved and someone will have to dump salary. That’s when there could be an opportunity to use a trade exception to bring in someone better than the minimum-salary options left on the free-agent market.

The Celtics are still exploring opportunities to utilize the $17.1 million Evan Fournier trade exception (TPE) that expires on July 18, team sources told The Athletic. But considering how deep the roster already is and their luxury tax situation, it’s likely that would be used either as part of a trade to send out a rotation player or to acquire someone on a relatively small salary.

Boston is currently around $20.2 million above the luxury tax line with 12 players rostered, per The Athletic’s Danny Leroux, which gives them a luxury tax bill of about $45.8 million. That makes taking on another player making eight figures a major challenge to ownership’s commitment to opening up the checkbook. Just adding another $17.1 million in salary would nearly triple the bill due to the escalating luxury tax penalties. It’s more likely the Celtics would just use the Fournier TPE to bring in a low-salary player making somewhere above the minimum.

[heyvik]

Rumblings that the Nets are not interested in taking on DeAndre Ayton mean third-party teams will likely be involved and someone will have to dump salary. That’s when there could be an opportunity to use a trade exception to bring in someone better than the minimum-salary options left on the free-agent market.

The Celtics are still exploring opportunities to utilize the $17.1 million Evan Fournier trade exception (TPE) that expires on July 18, team sources told The Athletic. But considering how deep the roster already is and their luxury tax situation, it’s likely that would be used either as part of a trade to send out a rotation player or to acquire someone on a relatively small salary.

Boston is currently around $20.2 million above the luxury tax line with 12 players rostered, per The Athletic’s Danny Leroux, which gives them a luxury tax bill of about $45.8 million. That makes taking on another player making eight figures a major challenge to ownership’s commitment to opening up the checkbook. Just adding another $17.1 million in salary would nearly triple the bill due to the escalating luxury tax penalties. It’s more likely the Celtics would just use the Fournier TPE to bring in a low-salary player making somewhere above the minimum.

Would this be someone like a LaMarcus Aldridge type player?

[Roy H.]

Rumblings that the Nets are not interested in taking on DeAndre Ayton mean third-party teams will likely be involved and someone will have to dump salary. That’s when there could be an opportunity to use a trade exception to bring in someone better than the minimum-salary options left on the free-agent market.

The Celtics are still exploring opportunities to utilize the $17.1 million Evan Fournier trade exception (TPE) that expires on July 18, team sources told The Athletic. But considering how deep the roster already is and their luxury tax situation, it’s likely that would be used either as part of a trade to send out a rotation player or to acquire someone on a relatively small salary.

Boston is currently around $20.2 million above the luxury tax line with 12 players rostered, per The Athletic’s Danny Leroux, which gives them a luxury tax bill of about $45.8 million. That makes taking on another player making eight figures a major challenge to ownership’s commitment to opening up the checkbook. Just adding another $17.1 million in salary would nearly triple the bill due to the escalating luxury tax penalties. It’s more likely the Celtics would just use the Fournier TPE to bring in a low-salary player making somewhere above the minimum.

Would this be someone like a LaMarcus Aldridge type player?

Somebody who is currently under contract, rather than a free agent.  But, presumably making around $3 million or so.

[Roy H.]

Has the Brogdon trade gone through yet?  If not, I wonder what the holdup is?  Could the Celts be looking to manipulate the trade somehow to preserve a chunk of the trade exception?  (No idea how that would happen, or if it's even possible.)

EDIT:  For instance, if Theis was re-routed to a third team, and we took back another player into our TPE, we could acquire a player and a $8.7 TPE, correct?

[boscel33]

Has the Brogdon trade gone through yet?  If not, I wonder what the holdup is?  Could the Celts be looking to manipulate the trade somehow to preserve a chunk of the trade exception?  (No idea how that would happen, or if it's even possible.)

I looked at Spotrac and see that the players involved in this trade are still with the original teams and showing in a pending transaction status.  Could they be trying to expand also?

[Vermont Green]

This doesn't make to me.  They certainly could use a small part of the Fournier TPE to bring in a player, sending out a low salary player creating a small TPE for moving forward, but that does not accomplish all that much.  We have other TPE in the hopper we could use.

One thing to keep in mind (that I think is true, no one has correct me in other threads), is that we can take in a contract with the Fournier TPE and so long as we cut the salary down by the end of the season, we avoid the tax.  For example, we could take in someone now and trade White at the trade deadline and the tax would be calculated based on the team salary at the end of the season.

I think the Celtics are just keeping all options open.  If we could finagle a way to bring in say Ayton and not be hard capped, I am sure they would be open to that (not sure that is possible, just an example).

And the reason that they have not finalized the Brogdon deal may be that they are still discussing Turner or some other variation on the trade.  That is very possible.  Or there could be physicals involved that aren't going well.

[Alleyoopster]

Has the Brogdon trade gone through yet?  If not, I wonder what the holdup is?  Could the Celts be looking to manipulate the trade somehow to preserve a chunk of the trade exception?  (No idea how that would happen, or if it's even possible.)

I looked at Spotrac and see that the players involved in this trade are still with the original teams and showing in a pending transaction status.  Could they be trying to expand also?

I'm wondering if the holdup might be due to Brogdon's injury/health status.

[colincb]

"... Boston is likely to target another capable big with a rim presence on both ends to complement Grant Williams’ versatility as an undersized but effective big. ... They will certainly need center depth, as Al Horford is expected to sit out most back-to-backs and have his minutes limited even further next season, according to team sources. ... Kornet has shown an ability to rotate across the paint to block layups and space the floor in pick and pops, but being a commanding presence in the paint is not quite his style."

The article implies that Begarin has a good chance to stick and explicitly says that team sources say Brodric Thomas and JD Davison are expected to compete for a spot.

[stes]

Has the Brogdon trade gone through yet?  If not, I wonder what the holdup is?  Could the Celts be looking to manipulate the trade somehow to preserve a chunk of the trade exception?  (No idea how that would happen, or if it's even possible.)

I looked at Spotrac and see that the players involved in this trade are still with the original teams and showing in a pending transaction status.  Could they be trying to expand also?

I'm wondering if the holdup might be due to Brogdon's injury/health status.

As reported by Bobby Marks the holdup is due to Juwan Morgan’s trade restriction that won’t be lifted until Saturday. It is a waiting period after him signing a contract extension or something like this.

[Roy H.]

Has the Brogdon trade gone through yet?  If not, I wonder what the holdup is?  Could the Celts be looking to manipulate the trade somehow to preserve a chunk of the trade exception?  (No idea how that would happen, or if it's even possible.)

I looked at Spotrac and see that the players involved in this trade are still with the original teams and showing in a pending transaction status.  Could they be trying to expand also?

I'm wondering if the holdup might be due to Brogdon's injury/health status.

As reported by Bobby Marks the holdup is due to Juwan Morgan’s trade restriction that won’t be lifted until Saturday. It is a waiting period after him signing a contract extension or something like this.

Ah.  Makes sense.

[Celtics2021]

Has the Brogdon trade gone through yet?  If not, I wonder what the holdup is?  Could the Celts be looking to manipulate the trade somehow to preserve a chunk of the trade exception?  (No idea how that would happen, or if it's even possible.)

I looked at Spotrac and see that the players involved in this trade are still with the original teams and showing in a pending transaction status.  Could they be trying to expand also?

I'm wondering if the holdup might be due to Brogdon's injury/health status.

As reported by Bobby Marks the holdup is due to Juwan Morgan’s trade restriction that won’t be lifted until Saturday. It is a waiting period after him signing a contract extension or something like this.

Ah.  Makes sense.

Yeah, he wasn't eligible to be traded for 90 days after he signed his full season contract, which was April 9th.

[Surferdad]

...
I think the Celtics are just keeping all options open.  ...

My take as well, really nothing new here. Weiss is simply recycling a lot of the same ideas we have discussed on this board ad nauseum.

[Celtics2021]

This doesn't make to me.  They certainly could use a small part of the Fournier TPE to bring in a player, sending out a low salary player creating a small TPE for moving forward, but that does not accomplish all that much.  We have other TPE in the hopper we could use.

One thing to keep in mind (that I think is true, no one has correct me in other threads), is that we can take in a contract with the Fournier TPE and so long as we cut the salary down by the end of the season, we avoid the tax.  For example, we could take in someone now and trade White at the trade deadline and the tax would be calculated based on the team salary at the end of the season.

I think the Celtics are just keeping all options open.  If we could finagle a way to bring in say Ayton and not be hard capped, I am sure they would be open to that (not sure that is possible, just an example).

And the reason that they have not finalized the Brogdon deal may be that they are still discussing Turner or some other variation on the trade.  That is very possible.  Or there could be physicals involved that aren't going well.

While there are other TPEs the Celtics could use, they expire later.  If the team is only going to add someone making $3 million or so, it still makes sense to do it with the Fournier TPE while it exists, as opposed to consuming most of a smaller one and losing the Fournier TPE anyway.

[colincb]

When the trade was announced, it was noted on ESPN that it couldn't close until this week, which isn't finished yet.