It has been a crazy offseason with rumors swirling all over the place. The Boston Celtics have been in the center of them all with talks about them going after Paul George, Gordon Hayward, and Jimmy Butler. Now, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Celtics have set their sights on signing Gordon Hayward and then trading for Paul George.
The Boston Celtics are pursuing an aggressive summer plan of sequencing the signing of free agent Gordon Hayward and relinquishing the assets needed to complete a trade for Paul George, league sources told The Vertical…For salary-cap purposes, Boston wants a Hayward commitment before it can finalize a trade for George and secure the most dynamic free-agent coup in franchise history, league sources said.”
The Los Angeles Lakers have been in the headlines as the place Paul George wants to end up; however, the Celtics have made it known for a couple of years now that they want to make a big splash. The question has always been whether or not Danny Ainge is willing to give up enough assets to get a star player.
After missing out on Jimmy Butler, the Celtics are going to go after the two biggest names available right now in George and Hayward. Based off of the last report from Woj, the talks between the Celtics and Pacers were at a standstill.
If the Celtics really want to get both players, they are going to have to make some moves in order to cut salary. Isaiah Thomas is a free agent, but if they sign him, they are going to have trouble getting both George and Hayward on top of the contracts they would have in Thomas and Al Horford.
Ainge has a lot of assets to play with, and free agency starts on July 1st, so the Celtics GM will have to pull some tricks out of his sleeve in order to garner two of the best wings in the NBA before other teams get a chance.
