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The Celtics crushed the Magic by thirty points on Friday night. There were a few bright spots in Orlando’s box score including Nikola Vucevic’s 14 points and 7 rebounds and according to CSNNE’s A. Sherrod Blakely, Boston is interested in the big man:
CSNNE.com has learned that the Celtics have talked with the Orlando Magic about a potential deal involving the 26-year-old center.
While no deal is imminent, the addition of Vucevic would be a significant boost to the Celtics roster on multiple fronts.
Rebounding, defense and scoring are the Big Three areas the Celtics are looking to upgrade between now and the Feb. 23 trade deadline.
The addition of Vucevic would address at least two of those areas for the Celtics – scoring and rebounding.
Frankly, any available 5 before the deadline is going to be linked to the Celtics. On Thursday, there was the report that Larry Sanders worked out for the team. There’s no doubt that the Mavericks’ Andrew Bogut is on the block. Jusuf Nurkic has fallen out of favor in Denver and is an interesting young center that Danny should check in on. There’s also the infatuation with Philly’s Nerlens Noel and bringing the hometown kid back home. Vucevic is yet another intriguing name because of his size and skill set, but with any decision that affects the rebuild, there are future considerations.
Blakely added that Orlando would be interested in Marcus Smart or Terry Rozier in order to add some toughness to the roster, but it’s doubtful that Ainge would want to trade either of those guys right now. The other tricky thing with Vucevic is that he’s still owed $25M for two more years. Having him on the cap this summer eliminates the chances of either attracting another max contract or re-signing Kelly Olynyk. He’d also still be on the books when Marcus Smart, Isaiah Thomas, and Avery Bradley are due new deals. Odds are, Ainge will have to settle for a rent-a-center and this Vucevic rumor is another in a long line of January-to-February chatter to keep us warm until the deadline.