The Boston Celtics are wheeling and dealing on a Friday night. Earlier this week, the Grizzles were reportedly interested in acquiring either Jeff Green or Luol Deng and now the Grizzlies have acquired one of the men they wanted.
First, the Celtics sent away newly acquired Brandan Wright to the Phoenix Suns and soon after, they are in the works to finalize a deal that sends their star forward, Jeff Green, to the Memphis Grizzlies.
More from Yahoo! sports Adrian Wojnarowski and ESPN’s Marc Stein.
Boston is nearing an agreement to send Jeff Green to Memphis for Tayshaun Prince and a first-round pick, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 9, 2015
Boston and Memphis awaiting the final nod from a third team in deal to have an agreement on Jeff Green trade, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 9, 2015
ESPN sources say Jeff Green is essentially a member of the Grizzlies now. Teams have agreed to the deal and hope to complete it tonight
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) January 9, 2015
The deal is to send Jeff Green to Memphis and in return, the Celtics acquire the $7 million dollar contract of Tayshaun Prince and a first round pick. The Celtics are in a complete rebuild mode now with this deal. After this deal gets finalized, the Celtics will be in possession of 11 first round picks over the next 4 drafts, beginning this year with the 2015 draft.
The deal for Memphis brings in a guy who’s a proven scorer. Maybe a streaky scorer, but he is proven to score and in bunches when he’s hot. The deal brings some added firepower due to the questionable health of Zach Randolph. Defensively, Green won’t be an upgrade over Prince, but the Grizzlies have been struggling on that end even with Prince in full rotation, so losing him may not be that bad after all.
Grizzlies are definitely in ‘win now’ mode.
UPDATE:
The New Orleans Pelicans are now the mystery third team involved in the trade for Jeff Green.
Memphis discussing Pondexter trades on several fronts, but focus is three-way deal with him going to New Orleans, sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 10, 2015
Pelicans acquire versatile wingman Quincy Pondexter and now send Austin Rivers to the Celtics in the process.
Here’s the full breakdown of the trade, courtesy NBA and NBATV.
Here's how the full 3-team trade between the @memgrizz, @PelicansNBA & @celtics breaks down. it went official today. pic.twitter.com/jlyOBWgxVl
— NBAonDefPen (@NBAOnDefPen) January 13, 2015
