The Boston Celtics and Portland Trail Blazers pulled off an intriguing trade on Monday night, and one that leaves the Golden State Warriors path to a playoff spot next season seemingly all the more difficult.
Needing to shed future salary in the wake of Jayson Tatum's torn achilles injury, the Celtics successfully did so in specutacular fashion, sending Jrue Holiday to the Trail Blazers for Anfernee Simons and two second-round picks.
The objectives of the Celtics were obvious in this move, and it might not be the last financially-driven trade they make as ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the franchise "remain engaged in trade talks surrounding multiple key players on the roster."
The motives of the Trail Blazers appears a little more confusing, having aided the Celtics in getting off future salary while also giving them a valuable young scorer AND two second-round picks in the process.
The Trail Blazers are pushing to make the playoffs next season
Portland have already been criticized for the deal by fans and analysts across the league, with the only plausible conclusion being that they think they're ready to contend for a playoff spot next season. Why else would they want a 35-year-old Holiday who still has three years and over $100 million remaining on his contract?
The Trail Blazers may have been incentivized by their second-half of the season, having gone 23-18 over their last 41 games thanks to the league's third-ranked defense during that period. They're clearly trying to build a defensive identity, something Simons didn't fit and Holiday -- a 6x All-NBA defender -- clearly does.
Whether or not it's the right move in the long-term remains to be seen, but clearly Portland have hopes of ending their four-year playoff drought. In fact, they haven't won a playoff series since 2019 where they ultimately lost to the Warriors in the Conference Finals.
This may prove an awful trade for the Trail Blazers if Holiday's contract ages as poorly as it could given his potential decline, but it's one that should at least make them better in the short-term.
If Portland is indeed rallying to be competitive and at least try to make the playoffs next season, that would leave just one team in the West -- the Utah Jazz -- as bonafide rebuilders whose first priority won't necessarily be winning.
It makes for an absolute bloodbath in the West where there will be no nights off and few easy encounters outside the Jazz. The season could come down to a war of attrition where any medium-term injury could be devastating for a team and their place in the standings.
That's not great news for an aging and veteran Warrior team, with the Trail Blazers now joining the Houston Rockets as conference rivals who've have made big trades in recent days to try and improve their short-term success.