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The Boston Celtics faced another tough loss last night, as they fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder last night 97-88. With it, the Celtics now find themselves as a 4-9 basketball team. With their struggles this season so far, one may ask if it's time to blow up the team? Well, other teams around the league think that could be the case.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, there have been several contending teams that have inquired about the availability of Boston Celtics captain and forward Paul Pierce. There has been no word as to whether or not Celtics GM Danny Ainge is fielding calls the calls for Pierce.
So far this season, Pierce is averaging 15.7 points per game with 5.0 rebounds per game. Pierce missed the first few games of the season with a heel injury, but appears to becoming closer and closer to returning to his old self.
At age 34, the youngest of the big three, Pierce appears to be the Celtics' most valuable trade chip besides point guard Rajon Rondo if they choose to trade players away at the Trade Deadline. With Kevin Garnett, 35, and Ray Allen, 36, coming off the payroll next season, Boston could be inclined to move Pierce. Pierce still has two years and $32 million left on his current deal he signed during the 2010 offseason.
While it does seem difficult for one to believe Danny Ainge would trade Pierce this early in the season, it most certainly could happen if the right deal came along. As we were all reminded of last night, Ainge broke up the 2008 title core by trading away Kendrick Perkins to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a potential star in Jeff Green. It's not probable, but it could happen.
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