NBA Trade Rumors: Celtics Land Center Nic Claxton from Brooklyn in Proposed Deal

The Boston Celtics, as expected, went into sell mode this past summer, and unloaded several big-money players in order to get under the onerous second apron. With that, they left themselves with some holes in the lineup, notably at the center spot, where they dealt Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks, and let Al Horford walk in free agency to the Golden State Warriors.

Likely, this will be a season that the Celtics will let things slide, and not worry too much about chasing a playoff spot, what with superstar Jayson Tatum out for the year with an Achilles tear.

But if things somehow break just right, and they feel they might have a shot at making some noise in the playoff picture, they'll need to fortify the center spot, both for now and for the future. That could lead them to a trade target like Nic Claxton of the Brooklyn Nets. Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report proposes a simple one-for-one deal that could get that done:

Boston Celtics receive:

Nic Claxton, C

Brooklyn Nets receive:

Anfernee Simons, G
Future Draft Pick

In this hypothetical scenario, the C's would get a versatile defensive center who can protect the rim and switch on defense, while also being an effective roll man on offense. He's under contract for another two years after this one, at a somewhat reasonable AAV of $23 million. This trade would shave another $4M+ off their payroll, and he'd be a nice fit with the Celtics.

As for the Nets, they're considered a "dumping ground for undesirable salaries" this year. In this proposition, they'd get the expiring $27.7 million contract of Simons, while also taking in a future draft pick for their troubles, while unloading the longer-term obligation to Claxton.