The Oklahoma City Thunder had no choice but to match the Portland Trail Blazers offer sheet to Enes Kanter, but when they did it put them way over the luxury tax. In order to save some of that tax money Oklahoma City has reportedly traded Perry Jones to the Boston Celtics, along with a second round pick and cash, according to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.
This is a low risk, high reward type of move for the Celtics as they have to give up virtually nothing for a 23-year-old player with a ton of potential. For the Thunder this move is about saving money and opening up a roster spot. Jones is scheduled to make a little more than $2 million in 2015-16 and since the Thunder are over the luxury tax, that $2 million would have actually cost them about $5 million additionally, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.
The open roster spot could potentially go to 2014 first-round pick Josh Huestis, who spent last season with the Thunder's D-League team, according to NewsOK.com.
For the Celtics this is just another asset they have gained that could possibly be used to get someone like a Danilo Gallinari later on down the line. If the Celtics were to keep Jones, which is very possible, they are getting a freakish athlete who stands at 6'11" and has a lot of potential. Jones never really got much of an opportunity with the Thunder, as he was stuck behind Kevin Durant at small forward and Serge Ibaka at power forward.
Jones was a top ten college recruit coming out of high school in 2010. In his two years at Baylor, Jones was a force to be reckoned with as he shot 52 percent from the field. In his second year in the NBA Jones shot 36 percent from three point range, and although that dropped down to 23 percent last season, he is clearly capable of knocking down triples.
This trade seems like it could potentially work out for everyone involved. The Celtics are getting an extremely talented young player, while the Thunder are saving money. Perry Jones gets a fresh start and may get more substantial minutes to prove he can be a solid NBA player as well.
