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Social media speculation turned into unfounded internet rumor last weekend when Sports Illustrated’s John Karalis — a longtime veteran beat reporter — suggested that Brad Stevens lob a call into the Golden State Warriors to inquire about the availability of one Steph Curry.
Karalis
wrote last week:
Could the Celtics get in on that?
The first thing to consider is that we don’t know what Curry’s market will be. We saw Jaylen Brown go for less than expected, and at Curry’s age, who knows how the bidding would go. He’s still incredibly effective, but the injuries tend to pile up for guys his age, especially ones who run as much as he does.
I’ll come up with a package. It might be great. It might suck. But it’s what Boston can do right now, and where it lands on that spectrum depends on what others are offering.
My trade package is going to be George, the picks acquired from Philadelphia, and Sam Hauser for Curry.
It was a harmless hypothetical in the doldrums of the NBA news desert and Karalis clarified his comments after the idea caught fire, but it does raise an interesting question for Brad Stevens: how does the front office fill out the roster around Jayson Tatum as he enters his prime?
Paul George is in the max slot for now with next season guaranteed and a player option for 2027-2028. The 36-year-old probably isn’t the ideal running mate next to Tatum — the younger Jaylen Brown would make more sense in terms of basketball fit. However, if the short-term plan is to partner JT with an older veteran, who should the Celtics target?
In the twisted nature of how all the teams’ timelines are connected, Tatum’s best team-up could be all the players that have been already linked to Curry. It was rumored that to land LeBron James, the Warriors needed to deal for Anthony Davis first. That didn’t happen and James ended up with Brown in Philadelphia. Kevin Durant, of course, spent three seasons in Golden State and raised two Larry O’Briens.
And we threw in Kyrie Irving into the poll just to watch the world burn. Funny, not funny?
