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As the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics look to finish reworking their trade, the Cavs reportedly asked for both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. With that laughed off, the Cavs will look for a first round pick. And it doesn’t seem like the Celtics will be willing to include that either.
According to Yahoo’s Chris Mannix, who was appearing on a radio show in Boston, the Celtics only want to include a single second round pick:
Per @ChrisMannixYS on @CSNNE, #Celtics will draw line in sand. May part with a 2nd Rd pick to complete #Cavs deal. No firsts/Brown/Tatum.
— Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) August 28, 2017
It’s completely reasonable for the Celtics to be unwilling to include more, particularly if they feel they were upfront about Isaiah Thomas’ hip. The Cavs, obviously, feel differently after doing their own evaluation of Thomas’ hip on Friday.
What could work in Cleveland’s favor here is that Boston has a treasure trove of picks. Aside from its own first round picks, Boston owns protected picks from the Lakers, Grizzlies and Clippers in 2018 and 2019. A middle ground here could be the Celtics giving up one of those picks — perhaps the Grizzlies pick, since it could be really valuable, but it’s unclear if it will — that they deem less valuable. But, for now, it’s obvious the two sides are a little bit apart.