Sabonis to Celtics Idea

[KG Living Legend]

 BR idea. You can do the deal without Queta and it still works so Simons, Hauser, Niang, and two firsts for Sabonis.

 Kings may want Sabonis off the books. He's on a slight decline and has 175 million.owed to him.

 For the Celtics we become very thin at guard with Simons and Hauser gone. But the big position is solidified with Sabonis when Tatum comes back the team will be very good.

 Brown and Tatum our isolation score is at heart. I've always thought that they could use a facilitator to benefit both of their games and Sabonis can do just that.

 Next year draft one more key piece at either guard or Big man and the team is ready to win chips again.

Sabonis, Queta, Williams
Tatum, Minott, Garza
Brown, Scheierman
White, Hugo, Walsh
Prichard, Davidson

[Who]

I don't think D Sabonis is available right now but it may become available mid-season or next summer. Sacramento are due for another disappointing campaign. That might be the final straw for them. They may chose to rebuild and make D Sabonis available in a trade.

[Moranis]

They'd do a lot better than that if they put Sabonis on the market.

[No Nickname]

I don't think D Sabonis is available right now but it may become available mid-season or next summer. Sacramento are due for another disappointing campaign. That might be the final straw for them. They may chose to rebuild and make D Sabonis available in a trade.

You make a good point that as we approach this upcoming trade deadline influential players make become available.

The Celtics will hopefully be big players here, with the focus not on the back 1/3rd of the 2025-26 season, but on the entire 2026-27 season.

As you say, if the Kings are putrid and want to get off of Sabonis' contract we could potentially add that crucial big-man piece for the 26-27 season a bit early. 

With that perspective in mind, and the C's not worrying about the 25-26 season, we could be open to a lot more scenarios.

For example, let's say an impact player has an injury that requires season-ending surgery, but not something so significant that would keep them from being healthy at the beginning of the following season. 

If someone like Simons is tearing it up for us, and a team needs an offensive sparkplug like him for a playoff push (let's say Dallas needs some firepower) it might open the C's up to (potentially injured) impactful players that right now are considered "off the table."

And while that sounds like I'm describing Anthony Davis, I'm not. 

[Birdman]

Love to have Sabonis but paying him, Tatum, Brown, & White will put a hurting on salary cap

[SHAQATTACK]

Think he should apply for the job .

[johnnygreen]

That is an incredibly lopsided trade in the Celtics favor.

[Csfan1984]

Doesn't look like the Kings need wings or guards to be interested in that trade.

[Vermont Green]

Love to have Sabonis but paying him, Tatum, Brown, & White will put a hurting on salary cap

I think this is the problem.  I don't see how BOS can pay (2026-27 values) Tatum $58M, Brown $57M and Sabonis up to $48M (with incentives) and have enough money left to put a good enough team around this group.

I like the trade otherwise.  Would love to get Sabonis.

[Neurotic Guy]

Love to have Sabonis but paying him, Tatum, Brown, & White will put a hurting on salary cap

I think this is the problem.  I don't see how BOS can pay (2026-27 values) Tatum $58M, Brown $57M and Sabonis up to $48M (with incentives) and have enough money left to put a good enough team around this group.

I like the trade otherwise.  Would love to get Sabonis.

Talent wise I think JB would have to go.  But that does nothing positive for Sacs future unless a third team can take JB and offer talented youth.
If the Cs had some serious young talent to go along with Simons expiring, there could be interest as Sac would gain cap-wise and have more youth to build with.  But that level of youth talent is non-existent in Boston (maybe Hugo at some point) while many other teams could offer talent to grow with.

[tenn_smoothie]

Sabonis, Queta, Williams
Tatum, Minott, Garza
Brown, Scheierman
White, Hugo, Walsh
Prichard, Davidson

I'd love to acquire Sabonis and the Celts need help inside. But that is a G-league bench.

[A Future of Stevens]

Has Sabonis significantly improved on defense? Last I knew, he was still considered a liability. I am not sure how high of a ceiling a team can have with a poor big man defender.

People bring up Denver alot with that. Jokic isn't perfect on defense, but he has subtly become a passable defender. He also is arguably the best offensive player of all time...

Even if he has progressed to average, that would limit our ceiling. Tatum when he comes back is going to be the 4. Is it smart to have our high usage superstar coming off an achilles be required to cover up our center's weaknesses? Tatum is more of a roamer and switcher. Not a weak side shot blocker.

[Vermont Green]

There is a relatively simple trade that works per the Fanspo Trade Machine:

Brown and Simons
for
Sabonis and DeRozan

I am not looking to trade Brown but to get back a cornerstone big makes it worth considering.  DeRozan is 35, 36 in August, but has been an iron man.  Hard to gauge how many more years you can get out of him but the 2026-27 line up isn't so bad:

Pritchard
White
DeRozan
Tatum
Sabonis

DeRozan is no Brown but Sabonis is a major upgrade on Simons, both positionally and production.  This deal does not quite get me over the hump, SAC would have to add something more, but this is close to a realistic trade to get Sabonis.

[JBcat]

There is a relatively simple trade that works per the Fanspo Trade Machine:

Brown and Simons
for
Sabonis and DeRozan

I am not looking to trade Brown but to get back a cornerstone big makes it worth considering.  DeRozan is 35, 36 in August, but has been an iron man.  Hard to gauge how many more years you can get out of him but the 2026-27 line up isn't so bad:

Pritchard
White
DeRozan
Tatum
Sabonis

DeRozan is no Brown but Sabonis is a major upgrade on Simons, both positionally and production.  This deal does not quite get me over the hump, SAC would have to add something more, but this is close to a realistic trade to get Sabonis.

I think a trade like this would set us back. Sabonis has a reputation of being a poor defensive center in the league. I?m seen this stats a few months ago, Sabonis among starting centers is 30th in defensive rating, 25th in defensive FG%, 19th in defensive win shares. He is a joy to watch on offense, but those defensive stats aren?t great if he is your last line of defense as a big. I?d rather not have Derozan in his mid 30s either. I?m keeping Brown and Simons in this scenario.

[KG Living Legend]

Sabonis, Queta, Williams
Tatum, Minott, Garza
Brown, Scheierman
White, Hugo, Walsh
Prichard, Davidson

I'd love to acquire Sabonis and the Celts need help inside. But that is a G-league bench.

 In case you haven't noticed.  Our bench is Gleauge level before this trade.  Whether Prichard or Simons start. We have one good guard off the bench.

 The rest of the roster is garbage.