New trade rumor exposes two teams circling Celtics offseason wreckage

According to ESPN's Marc J. Spears, the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets could emerge as trade partners for the Boston Celtics if they decide to offload some capital this summer. Jayson Tatum's Achilles rupture has put significant uncertainty around the future of the Celtics. The star's looming absence following his successful surgery Tuesday widens the already open door for substantial changes in the offseason.

"Even before Tatum's injury, in the first round there was an NBA executive from another team that told me he expected change with the Celtics no matter what this offseason," Spears said on SportsCenter. "The two teams that I'm keeping an eye, for a couple of these guys at least, are the Houston Rockets... and then another team is the San Antonio Spurs."

Spears painted Houston as a possible destination due to the presence of former Celtics, and current Rockets Head Coach Ime Udoka. He explained that Udoka's relationships and understanding of the players in Boston would help boost the front office's interest in adding some of the Cs' more expensive players.

As for San Antonio, they've got the second pick in this year's NBA Draft and could be exploring trades to use it to bring in more established talent.

Both of these franchises have squads full of young talent as well as some valuable draft capital. If the Celtics were to swing a deal with either of them, they could reload their roster with less-expensive, yet promising, talent for when Tatum is fully healed.

Change is almost certainly coming for the Celtics this offseason.

It's no secret that the Celtics are interested in avoiding the dreaded second apron by shedding some salary over the summer.

"You can't stay in the second apron," Celtics Governor Wyc Grousbeck said during an appearance on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show" back in March. "Nobody will. I predict for the next 40 years of the CBA, no one's gonna stay in the second apron more than two years."

Boston has been a second-apron team for the past two seasons. In doing so, they've been able to retain a strong core of Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday. That core doesn't come without a cost, though. All second-apron teams face the following penalties each year that they are above the threshold.

• First-round picks seven years out cannot be traded.
• Teams will no longer be able to use the taxpayer mid-level exception (veteran minimums only).
• If a team remains in the second apron three out of five seasons, their first-round pick will automatically move to the end of the round.
• Outgoing salaries cannot be aggregated or combined in trades.
• Cannot acquire a player in return in an outgoing sign-and-trade.
• Teams can’t use trade exceptions created from a prior year.
• Teams can no longer use cash in trades.

In the past few months there have been multiple reports of Boston being interested in offloading some of their bigger contracts.

Earlier in May, ESPN's Shams Charania echoed what The Stein Line's Jake Fischer reported in late March.

"The rest of the league is bracing for some level of change to the Celtics roster this offseason," Charania said during an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show."

Fischer's report had more details. He pointed to Holiday and Porzingis as the two most-likely Celtics to be dealt, while all-but clearing White of any trade possibility.

"The two major salaries that league figures are monitoring in possible future trades: Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday," Fischer wrote. "White would seemingly generate the most trade value of the three if he were to be made available after the playoffs, but his name wasn't mentioned once to me in reporting out this story."

As sad or unfortunate as it may seem, the current iteration of the Celtics could be playing its last game on Wednesday night. The NBA's new CBA truly has a vice grip on the league and makes it incredibly difficult to have an expensive payroll.

Hopefully the Celtics can play their cards right and land the appropriate pieces to fill out a sustainably great roster.