The Boston Celtics are wheeling and dealing ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft, as they sent Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night and Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday. According to a recent report, they may just be getting started with their work on the trade market.
Entering the offseason, it was clear that the Celtics needed to move some players in order to avoid the second apron of the NBA’s new salary cap. Holiday and Porzingis, a pair of expensive veterans, were viewed as their top two trade candidates as a result.
With these two trades, Boston managed to get under the second apron while also adding a talented young guard in Anfernee Simons and a handful of second-round picks. Considering how some folks expected the C’s to have to attach draft capital to these guys in order to move them, it was pretty solid work from Brad Stevens and the front office.
Now, the draft is less than 24 hours away, where the Celtics are armed with the Nos. 28 and 32 picks. Boston has already been quite busy, and it seems like they may not be done making moves, as a report indicates the team is looking to trade up in the draft for Illinois Fighting Illini guard Kasparas Jakucionis.
“League sources are telling Heavy Sports the club would like to buy a ticket for the Wednesday night drawing,” Steve Bulpett of Heavy Sports reported. “The Celts are said to be trying to make a trade to move up in the draft, with particular interest in projected lottery pick Kasparas Jakucionis, a 6-foot-6 point guard from Illinois.
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“The Lithuanian turned 19 on May 29th and averaged 15 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists in his one season with the Fighting Illini.”
Jakucionis is an intriguing combo-guard who possesses unique size for a player at his position. While the Celtics still have Derrick White, Anfernee Simons, and Payton Pritchard leading their backcourt, they could take a flier on Jakucionis and hope they can develop him into a star.
After dealing away Holiday and Porzingis, Boston has a lot more financial freedom than they did 24 hours ago, and that could ultimately end up serving them well in their efforts to make another big deal to move up the board.
