The Boston Celtics faced a reality after agreeing to terms with Gordon Hayward. To clear cap space to sign Hayward, they needed to move on from an important piece in their rotation and the three candidates were Jae Crowder, Marcus Smart, and Avery Bradley. While the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics were discussing a sign-and-trade involving Crowder and Hayward it appears those talks stalled. Boston then went another way.
The Celtics have reportedly traded starting guard Avery Bradley and a second round pick to the Detroit Pistons for Marcus Morris.
Following comes courtesy of Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The Boston Celtics are trading guard Avery Bradley and a second-round pick to the Detroit Pistons for forward Marcus Morris, league sources told ESPN.
The Bradley deal creates the salary-cap space needed to sign free-agent forward Gordon Hayward to a four-year, $128 million maximum contract.
The Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers were aggressive suitors for Bradley in the past 24 hours, league sources said.
Detroit could be aggressive in pursuing a new deal with him, something that Bradley has been keenly interested in, league sources said.
For Detroit, this probably means that restricted free agent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is all but gone from the Motor City. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst speculated as much following the deal.
Pistons talks w/Kentavious Caldwell-Pope haven’t progressed, sources say. Possibility Pistons make him unrestricted or not match offer sheet
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 7, 2017
