A Terrence Ross trade the Boston Celtics need to consider

As rumor has it, a long-standing target that we at HH have been pushing the Boston Celtics to try and pursue was just recently made available on the trade market.

According to the folks at Hoops Hype, league sources have informed them that the Orlando Magic are shopping the likes of veteran wing, Terrence Ross, and the hope amongst interested teams is that the asking price will drop to something similar to when the franchise dealt away Evan Fournier just two trade deadlines ago:

"Previously at the trade deadline, the asking price for Ross was a first-round pick. With Ross now owed $11.5 million in the final year of his contract, rival teams with interest are hoping Orlando lowers its asking price to multiple second-round picks, similar to when the team previously traded Evan Fournier to the Celtics."

Now, being that they’ve already shelled out the rights to their first-round selection in last year’s draft and for this upcoming one, in all certainty, the C’s would not have been interested in giving up yet another one should the Magic’s asking price remain the same as it was from this past deadline and, frankly, nor should they be.

That said, should said price drop as mentioned, Boston should absolutely pursue Ross this summer, and we believe that this is a deal that could wind up getting such an exchange done:

Luckily for the Boston Celtics, they wouldn’t have to include any players heading outbound in exchange for the small forward, as they could simply opt to use some of the $17.5 million TPE they received last offseason in the Fournier sign-and-trade with the NY Knicks which, in and of itself, would be a luxury for Orlando to acquire.

However, on top of this, we also see the franchise receiving the type of draft capital many are hoping they’ll be asking for in hypothetical negotiations, bring back a 2022 second-round pick and then again one in 2023 via the Portland Trail Blazers.

Of course, the biggest part of this deal is Terrence Ross finally making his way to eastern Massachusetts for, as we stated earlier, we at the Houdini have been pushing for such a scenario for literally years, even referring to him as a ‘dream’ target at one point for the ball club.

Over the past several seasons the Celtics have found themselves rolling out one of the least productive second-units in the association in terms of scoring, ranking 29th in points per game in 2019-20, 28th in 2020-21, and, just this past season, finished 26th.

From the statistics to the trusty old eye test (particularly in this year’s NBA Finals where they had no real trusty scoring threats when Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown needed some help), it’s evident that Brad Stevens and co. should be highly interested in bringing on some extra offensive firepower this offseason and Ross could prove to be a rather low-risk, high reward option for them to consider.

Since 2019 the veteran wing has found himself posting per-game averages of 13.8 points on 35 percent shooting from deep (on 6.2 attempts) to go along with 3.2 boards, 1.7 assists, and just shy of a steal whilst predominantly coming off the bench.

From his incredible athleticism that allows him to finish at the rim with ease to his trusty shooting stroke and isolation skills that let him serve as a threat from the mid-range to beyond the arc, Terrence Ross is a seasoned scoring threat that any team looking to vie for contention would likely love to have coming off the pine and, with just one-year, $11.5 million remaining on his contract, he’s absolutely worth it for the Boston Celtics to invest in, even with his semi-underwhelming 2021-22 turnout.