NBA Trade Rumors: Blake Griffin Could Be Key To Celtics Getting Into The Finals
After news that the Los Angeles Clippers are looking to do a full reboot, fans have been speculating on which players will be calling a new team home. The latest of these rumors involved the Boston Celtics acquiring Blake Griffin to strengthen their standing in the Eastern Conference which continues to be dominated by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Celtics are one of the teams most likely to make a trade before the earlier-than-usual NBA trade deadline on Thursday, Feb. 8. A good trade could poise the team for a spot at the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010.
For years, the Celtics have been rumored to have interest in Griffin. In fact, it was reported that the Celtics were interested in trading for Griffin at last year's trade deadline.
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That being said, many things have changed since the last time the team had an interest in Griffin, most notably the addition of high-priced stars Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving. The only way for the Celtics to could conceivably add Griffin money-wise would be part with Al Horford.
On the Clipper's end of the deal, they might ask for more in addition to Horford, possibly a draft pick. In the end though it will hinge on how much of an upgade Danny Ainge thinks Griffin is over Horford which shouldn't be that hard to decide thanks to a recent puff piece about him being the key to defending against the Golden State Warriors.
Time is running out though as the Clippers recently proposed a blockbuster deal to the Minnesota Timberwolves involving Griffin and center Karl-Anthony Towns. However, the Timberwolves needs to include least two additional Timberwolves players in a trade involving Griffin and Towns to make it work financially, however, thanks to their $23.3 million salary gap.
The proposal has yet to advance from being an exploratory call due to the Timberwolves declining but the deal could probably still happen before the deadline. If a deal does push through, it would require the Clippers to create another roster spot for the hypothetical incoming third Timberwolves player.
