NBA Draft rumors: Boston Celtics looking to acquire lottery pick from Timberwolves

In advance of the NBA Draft on Thursday night, the Boston Celtics are reportedly looking to acquire the seventh pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Danny Ainge is the master of wheeling and dealing with future assets. The Boston Celtics had the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft and were in the Eastern Conference Finals. Then they traded down with the Philadelphia 76ers, getting the No. 3 overall pick and a future first-round pick from either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Sacramento Kings.

Then it was reported that Ainge is in the discussion with the New York Knicks and Phil Jackson to acquire Kristaps Porzingis for a bevy of draft picks and some players on Boston. Ainge might be hesitant to give up some of the stars, like Jaylen Brown, so what does he do? Try to add extra lottery picks, so that you can use that in a trade instead of moving a player.

According to Michael Scotto from the Basketball Insiders, the Boston Celtics are interested in acquiring the seventh overall pick in the NBA Draft from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Not sure if this means that the Boston Celtics are looking to move down from the No. 3 spot to No. 7 spot, but it seems more likely that the Celtics are trying to give up some future first-round picks in exchange for the Timberwolves’ draft pick tonight.

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What this move allows for is an extra asset tonight to ship to New York in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis. Danny Ainge continues to try different moves in hopes that they can land the 7-foot-3 star without having to give up too many of their own players that they’ve already drafted. When you have seven first-round picks in the next three years, it makes it a lot easier to go and execute trades like this. Talk about a wizard in the draft room. Let’s see if the Celtics can acquire this draft pick.