The Boston Celtics reportedly would trade for either Phoenix Suns guard Goran Dragic or his teammate, Isaiah Thomas. New reports indicate Celtics president Danny Ainge is interested in making a deal for either one of the two guards ahead of Thursday's 3:00 p.m. trade deadline.
Dragic and Thomas have both been mentioned in trade rumors this month, and Boston has been linked to each of them. Prior to Dragic purportedly informing Suns general manager Ryan McDonough Tuesday night he would leave as a free agent no matter what after the season, the Suns were said to prefer trading Thomas and keeping Dragic. According to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE, that would have been just fine for Ainge.
"If Suns management decides to unload Thomas, the Celtics will be among the teams to look closely at swinging a deal for the 5-foot-9 guard, a league source told CSNNE.com on Tuesday," Blakely wrote. "Last summer, one of the first calls made by Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge during the free agency period was to Thomas. Thomas later said Ainge and the Celtics were the first team to reach out to him during free agency, which ended with coming to terms on a four-year, $28 million sign-and-trade deal with Sacramento sending him to the Suns."
Thomas, though, might be off the trade block following Tuesday's developments. Given that McDonough now must trade Dragic before the deadline or lose him for nothing in July, it seems doubtful he would deal two of his top three point guards - especially with Phoenix still in playoff contention.
Thomas has the more team-friendly contract of the two guards, but that reportedly doesn't mean Ainge isn't inquiring about a possible trade for Dragic.
"The Phoenix Suns are operating under the belief that guard Goran Dragic could be persuaded to accept a five-year contract elsewhere, thus are pursuing trades with asset-rich teams outside of his preferred list of destinations, league sources told Yahoo Sports," Wojnarowski wrote Wednesday. "The Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings have been initially aggressive in talks to obtain Dragic, who will be a free agent in July."
Boston has enough assets - including a plethora of future first-round draft picks, as well as a handful of expiring contracts - to make it worthwhile for Phoenix to move Dragic.
One big holdup to a deal, however, is likely that Dragic reportedly will only re-sign with a handful of teams this summer. Boston isn't included in that handful, and with the team undergoing a rebuild and the playoffs only in reach because of a watered-down conference, it doesn't make sense for Ainge to give up significant assets to essentially rent a player for the remainder of the season.
