NBA Trade Rumors: Boston Celtics Trading Paul Pierce During Draft?

NBA Trade Rumors — The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Clippers continue their negotiations regarding the Kevin Garnett for DeAndre Jordan trade, and could potentially come to an agreement. If KG and Doc Rivers are shipped out of town, the Celtics are most definitely blowing the team up, and would look to trade Paul Pierce during the NBA Draft, according to ESPN:

"Pierce is not part of this trade, but sources say that the Clippers hatched this ambitious plan to acquire Rivers and Garnett with the intent from the start to land Pierce as well. The Celtics have until June 30 to either buy out Pierce for $5 million or guarantee him $15.3 million for next season, but it’s believed that Boston wants to wait until the draft later this month to see if it can make a trade to get something for Pierce instead of just setting him free."

While the Clippers seem to be inclined to get their hands on Pierce, there is little to no chance that the Celtics would buy him out. He is on an expiring deal and still has trade value, so the team will most definitely look to get something for him. Unless the Clippers would be willing to offer some kind of a package involving Eric Bledsoe for Pierce, the two teams would probably not hook up on another deal.

Waiting until the draft would be the smartest thing to do for Boston right now, as they could easily trade their way into the draft, or at the very least land a trade exception and some other pieces for Pierce.