Celtics want to trade or buyout PF David Lee

The Boston Celtics are intending to trade power forward David Lee before the trade deadline. If that’s not possible, they’ll agree to a buyout with him to that he can move onto another team for a late postseason push.

If they buyout his contract, he’ll have to sign with the team by the end of this month to be eligible for the postseason roster spot.

Lee has been on the trading block for the past several weeks. Lee and his representatives are working with the team to move him onto a new situation, according to TNT’s David Aldridge.

Lee was acquired by the Celtics in the summer time for Gerald Wallace and Chris Babb.

Lee is in the final year of his six-year, $79.5 million deal that he signed with the New York Knicks in July 2010. Then, he was traded in a sign-and-trade to the Golden State Warriors for Kelenna Azubuike, Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf, 2012 2nd round draft pick and a 2013 2nd round draft pick.

The Knicks used those draft picks to draft Quincy Miller and Romero Osby.

Lee is making $15.493 million this season and will be a free agent at 32-years-old in the summer.

With the Celtics, he is averaging 7.1 points per game with 4.3 rebounds per game. He’s also averaging 1.8 assists per game in 15.7 minutes.

He’s made four starts in 30 games.

Earlier today, we reported that the Celtics and the Houston Rockets are talking about a trade involving Dwight Howard. It’s believed that if the Celtics can acquire Howard, Lee’s expiring contract would have to go back to the Lone Star State in return.

The Rockets are looking to get something for Howard, who intends to decline the team’s option for next season at $23 million. He can sign a maximum contract with the Rockets at $29 million per season.

Earlier this season, Howard was linked to the Miami Heat in a potential trade involving young star Hassan Whiteside. The Heat denied any potential trade talks were being discussed, as they’d like to re-sign Whiteside before he becomes a free agent.

Lee is the oldest Celtic at 32-years-old. Amir Johnson and Evan Turner are the other older statesman on the team with many young players.

With the Celtics having depth at power forward and point guard, the Celtics could easily pull off a trade for Howard.

If they acquired Howard, it wouldn’t mean that he would re-sign with the team this summer. It would be a huge gamble for any team that would acquire him.

Bulls, Nuggets, Magic, 76ers pull off the first two trades in the NBA Draft

By Anthony Caruso III
Posted: June 25th, 2014 at 9:12 pm EST

There has been two trades at the 2014 NBA Draft so far.

Doug McDermott was selected by the Denver Nuggets with the 11th overall pick. A short time later, he was moved to the Chicago Bulls for the 16th and 19th picks.

2014 NBA Draft

Reece Davis, who is a part of the ESPN crew working the NBA draft, said McDermott wanted to play for the Bulls all along.

The complete McDermott deal has Anthony Randolph also going to Chicago for Jusuf Nurkic (16th overall pick) and Gary Harris (19th overall pick) and a 2015 second round pick.

Randolph has bounced around on his career. He began his career with the Golden State Warriors, before moving on to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2010-11 and also made a stop with the New York Knicks that season.

He rejoined the Wolves for the 2011-12 season, before spending the past two years with the Nuggets.

He has averaged 7.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.7assists, and 0.9 blocks in 252 career games since the 2008-09 season. He has made 42 starts in his career.

With the 10th overall pick, the Philadelphia 76ers selected Elfrid Payton, while the Orlando Magic drafted Dario Saric with the 12th overall pick.

Besides Sarc, the 76ers also acquire a 2015 second round draft pick and a 2017 first-round draft pick. The first round draft pick was originally the 76ers, before it was dealt to the Magic in the Dwight Howard blockbuster deal from two years ago.

These two players were then swapped for each other. Payton, who rose up the draft board, will be the replacement for point guard Jameer Nelson.

On June 23rd, Saric signed a three-year contract with Anadolu Efes, a Turkish powerhouse. This past season, he played with Cibona Zagreb, where he averaged 19.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.

This contract is two years with a player option for the third year. It also prohibits him from playing in the NBA for at least two years.

The 76ers did not have a single foreign player play for them during the 2013-14 season.