The Boston Celtics missed out on Paul George, but they still plan on making a splash in NBA Free Agency. The top target is Gordon Hayward, who will visit the team this weekend. Here are the latest Celtics rumors on Hayward and more that you need to know.
Gordon Hayward Update
After missing out on Paul George (more on that below), the Celtics are still trying to land Gordon Hayward. Their meeting is set for Sunday.
According to a league source, Gordon Hayward will be in Boston for his visit with the Celtics on Sunday.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) July 1, 2017
However, the Celtics might not be the front-runners to land Hayward. The Miami Heat are believed to be in good position.
Three league sources sense the current favorite for Gordon Hayward is Miami. Reasons: better lifestyle, Spoelstra, "feature scoring role."
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) July 1, 2017
O'Connor adds that things can change after the meetings, but the Heat are a real threat. The Heat will met with Hayward first, followed by the Celtics and then Jazz.
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Boston Stunned By Trade
Like pretty much all of the NBA and its fans, the Celtics were stunned by the trade of Paul George. Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald has the details of what the Celtics were willing to offer.
"The news hit the Celtics as they were preparing to make their midnight free agent phone calls, and according to sources among those who have dealings with the club, the C’s were stunned," Bulpett writes. "They had gone hard after George at the February trade deadline, offering this year’s Brooklyn pick (through a swap of first-round positions) that became No. 1 overall. The thinking for the Celts is that they would have a year-plus to convince George to stay in Boston.
"In their latest attempts to get George over the last several days, they were unwilling to include next year’s first-round draft pick from Brooklyn or the Lakers 2018 pick, or the Sacramento 2019 pick they received from Philadelphia as an inducement for moving down from No. 1 to 3 in this year’s draft. The Celtics also did not want to part with their top picks from the last two years, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
But sources confirmed the C’s were more than ready to give the Pacers players with better contracts and multiple draft picks other than the ones mentioned in the previous paragraph. The best offer was two starters, almost certainly Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley, and three first-round draft picks."
That's surely a better deal than the Pacers got from the Thunder. But the Celtics wanted to wait until they signed Gordon Hayward to make the formal offer to the Pacers and it appears Indiana didn't want to wait and waited to keep George out of the Eastern Conference.
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