The 2022 NBA Draft was fairly uneventful for the Boston Celtics. They didn’t have a pick in the first round, as they trade theirs to the San Antonio Spurs in the deal for Derrick White. However, they did make a selection in Round 2, picking up Alabama guard JD Davison.
Davison was a one-and-done player at Alabama, but his draft stock tanked in his one year there, as he proved to be a fairly raw prospect. Regardless, though, draft night was pretty quiet for Boston outside of their lone pick.
However, Brad Stevens, the Celtics’ President of Basketball Operations, doesn’t expect things to stay that way. During his post-draft press conference, Stevens hinted that there could be some trades in the future for Boston this summer.
“We’ve talked about that [the $17.1 million Evan Fournier TPE] for a while. We know who fits in that TPE and who might be available. Now, it’s about cost. We decided tonight that we didn’t find anything we were ready to use the TPE on. But things are just getting started,” Stevens explained.
Saying “things are just getting started” is a pretty good indicator that the Celtics may have some moves in mind as the offseason gets underway. And with a multitude of TPEs at their disposal, things could get pretty crazy.
That craziness could have started on draft night, but Stevens said that the Celtics were hesitant to send out any valuable assets right now.
Stevens Explains Lack of Draft Trades
There were some rumors ahead of the 2022 NBA Draft that the Celtics could look to trade into the first round. In particular, Sean Deveney of Heavy.com reported that they were a team interested in trading for the Golden State Warriors‘ first-round pick at 28.
“Boston, also facing a future luxury-tax bill, has an interest in bringing in low-cost players who can contribute, and there could be a handful of polished, older players available late in this year’s first round,” Deveney reported.
However, according to Stevens, the price of moving up on draft night was simply too high for Boston. Instead, they chose to hold on to their players and other assets.
“We talked about moving up, but parting with significant players on our team, or using our TPEs and other assets, wasn’t something we wanted to do right now,” Stevens explained.
On top of all of that, even though the Fournier TPE is set to expire on July 18, Boston isn’t worried about that.
Celtics Prepared to Not Use Fournier TPE
According to Stevens, the Celtics don’t feel as though they need to use the Fournier TPE. They are more than comfortable letting it go and using the other TPEs they have available to them, most of which don’t expire until around next year’s trade deadline.
“If that thing vanquishes because we don’t find the right deal, we still have two other TPEs that don’t expire until the trade deadline,” Stevens stated.
This could merely be Stevens and the Celtics playing coy in an attempt to draw potential trade partners in, but regardless, this season should be an entertaining one for Celtics fans.
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