NBA Draft Rumors: Celtics to trade up for Willie Cauley-Stein?

The NBA Draft is right around the corner, and the Boston Celtics are already trying to jockey for positioning before the lottery is even determined.

We are less than a month away from the NBA Draft, but it’s never too early for teams to start looking at trading up in the order to get who they want. The Boston Celtics may have made the postseason this year, but they’re not about to waste their chance and take a step back.

Boston wants to make sure they move up and beyond where they were this season, and that starts with drafting well to keep their young team youthful and talented.

According to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com, the Boston Celtics are trying to trade up in the NBA Draft to select Willie Cauley-Stein out of Kentucky.

"While the sources did not indicate which player Boston was targeting, there are growing signs that they have their sights set on trying to draft Kentucky big man Willie Cauley-Stein."

Right now, Boston owns no lottery picks, but they have two other first round picks to trade as well as future assets to move. The Celtics can’t trade consecutive first round picks, which means if they move their 2015 first-rounder, they can’t trade their 2016 first-rounder. But the thing about that is, the Celtics own the Los Angeles Clippers No. 28 overall pick in the draft.

That’s not a gangbuster pick and the Celtics will need more than just that to move into the lottery, but it could be a way for them to move a first-round pick this year that isn’t technically theirs and still move a first-round pick of their own in the future — or even this year.

Adding Willie Cauley-Stein, who is projected to be a high to mid-lottery pick in June’s draft, would be amazing for the Celtics to make happen. There are teams will to move down in the lottery, but until the order is solidified this week, it’s impossible to tell who will want to move back and where Willie Cauley-Stein will land.

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