Celtics Trade Rumors: Blake Griffin Trade Request Made By Boston Celtics
Celtics trade rumors reveal Blake Griffin was a target for Danny Ainge. These Boston Celtics trade rumors state that the president of the team made inquiries to the LA Clippers, but that he found the team unwilling to part with Blake Griffin. A report from the Boston Herald came out early Tuesday, February 16, stating that Ainge has Griffin near the top of his “wish list” heading into the NBA trade deadline. That’s not too surprising, as a number of NBA general managers have been contacting the Clippers.
Though these Boston Celtics trade rumors certainly show how intent president Danny Ainge is to make a big move, the LA Clippers have shown no real movement when it comes to dealing Griffin. One bit of interesting news to come from the situation is that the Clippers are “listening” to the offers, even if there have been no counter negotiations. That could change in the near future if the Clippers fail to make an impact on the 2016 NBA Playoffs. Ainge might be eager to make a call at that point as well.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, there have been quite a few Boston Celtics trade rumors recently. The key is that Danny Ainge doesn’t want to make a deal where the Celtics don’t come out on the winning side in a big way. The team has been linked to Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks, Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks, and even Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers. While the Celtics could improve in the short-term by acquiring any of these All-Star players, the team isn’t willing to mortgage its future.
What it might take to pry Griffin away from the Clippers is still very unclear, but coach Doc Rivers keeps telling the media that the team isn’t looking to deal its All-Star power forward. Even with his off-court problems this year, Griffin has been having possibly his best season in the NBA. In 30 games with the Clippers during the 2015-16 NBA season, Blake Griffin has averaged 23.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game. He is also shooting about 51 percent from the field and has been playing better defense.
As for the goals of Danny Ainge, he has kept no secrets about what his goal for the Celtics is as the NBA trade deadline encroaches. The report in the Boston Herald quoted what he had to say about the latest Boston Celtics trade rumors and what the team is trying to do before the stretch run of the season.
“When I’m looking at players out there, I’m looking at players that can make a big difference. Not players that can win us two games or anything like that. That’s not my objective. Our objective is not to keep us in the No.?3 seed in the East and maybe move up a bit, other than that’s our players’ objective and that’s our coaches’ objective. I think those are amazing goals, and it’s been fun watching this team compete and beating some of the good teams along the way. But our objective is to put together a team that can compete for championships.”
Ainge and the Celtics certainly aren’t done making phone calls before the February 18 deadline, but a deal might not get made until the final hours on Thursday; the reason being that Ainge wants to set his team up with the best player possible at the least cost. Retaining the draft picks that keep getting mentioned in Boston Celtics trade rumors will only serve to make the team stronger over the next few NBA seasons. The short-term question becomes: how much talent does the team need to add to be a true contender in the 2016 NBA Playoffs?
[Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images]
