Celtics’ 3 Biggest Trade Candidates if They Lose to Knicks Include Former All-Stars: Insider

The Boston Celtics know the task at hand.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla’s group is staring at an 0-2 hole in their Eastern Conference semifinals series against the New York Knicks after shockingly blowing 20-point leads in both Games 1 and 2 at home. If the Celtics want any chance of coming back to advance to their fourth straight conference finals (let alone shift the series back to Beantown next week for a potential Game 5), they almost certainly have to win in Game 3 on Saturday afternoon.

While the city’s baseball squad (the Boston Red Sox) is the only MLB team to ever come back from a 3-0 playoff series deficit, the feat has never been done in NBA history. NBA teams holding a 3-0 lead are 159-0 in the league’s history, so suffice to say, Saturday is essentially a must win for the Celtics at Madison Square Garden.

Boston’s opportunity at a repeat title and the possibility of suffering a massive upset at the hands of a hated rival aren’t the only things on the line.

As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst argued, a Celtics series loss to the Knicks could have “massive ramifications” this summer.

Bleacher Report’s Bryan Toporek also recently wrote about what could happen to Boston and its loaded roster, should they lose on Saturday in a post for Forbes.com.

Game 3 Loss vs. Knicks Would ‘Likely Slam the Door Shut’ on Celtics’ ‘Core’ This Summer

Toporek opined on Friday that if the Celtics are eliminated by the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals, it would have “monumental consequences this offseason,” adding that “no matter what happens in this year’s playoffs moving forward, this could be the end of an era for the defending champions.”

“For now, the Celtics are solely focused on winning Game 3 on Saturday night and getting back into their series against the Knicks. Failing to do so would likely slam the door shut on their current core this offseason,” he wrote.

With superstars like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown already locked in on long-term deals, Boston is on track to become the first $500-plus million roster next season.

Toporek notes that with the NBA’s “new repeater-tax rates go into effect this offseason,” the franchise could approach a tax bill “in the $280 million range,” according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

“Combine that with a projected $233 million payroll, and the Celtics would have by far the most expensive roster in NBA history,” Toporek wrote. “If the Celtics are pursuing a three-peat next season, they might be willing to stomach that massive tax bill for the chance to cement themselves as an all-time great dynasty. But if they flame out in the second round this year, their new ownership group might have less of an appetite to shell out that type of money.”

With that in mind, the insider mentioned a trio of crucial members of the team who may be the “top three trade candidates” this offseason.

Which of the Big 3 is Likeliest to Get Traded?

Toporek first mentions Brown and Tatum and says that despite the duo’s struggles across the first two contests against New York, “trading either one would likely be the Celtics’ last resort.”

The Forbes contributor offered Boston’s starting backcourt (Derrick White and Jrue Holiday), as well as sharpshooting big man Kristaps Porzingis as the three names to look out for on the trade market.

“From an availability standpoint, Porziņģis would be the obvious choice. He hasn’t played more than 65 games in a season since his sophomore NBA campaign back in 2026-17. The 7-footer missed 25 regular-season games last year and 40 games this year, and he left the Celtics’ Game 1 loss to the Knicks after only 13 minutes due to the illness that has been plaguing him for the past months,” Toporek wrote. “However, Porziņģis’ size and long-range shooting ability are the skeleton key that makes Boston’s 5-out offense so deadly. He shot a career-best 41.2% from deep this year on 6.0 attempts per game, which creates major issues for teams with paint-bound bigs who struggle to close out on the perimeter.”

Further limiting the chance of Boston moving the one-time All-Star is the fact that the team’s other primary big (Al Horford) is the only player among the team’s core (per Windhorst) slated to hit unrestricted free agency this offseason. If the Celtics were to lose the former third overall pick, they’d surely want to hold onto Porzingis.

Holiday, meanwhile, is signed through next season, is still one of the best perimeter defenders in the game and recently won his second NBA Sportsmanship Award, becoming the first Celtics player to even earn the hardware. He’ll be 35 in June, however, and is becoming somewhat of a liability on offense, as his 11.1 points and 3.9 assists per game during the regular season were his lowest averages since his 2009-2010 rookie campaign.

That leaves White, who Toporek writes “might have the highest trade value of the three.”

“He’s about to begin the four-year, $118.0 million extension that he signed last offseason, which includes a $34.8 million player option in 2028-29. He’s set to earn between only 17-18% of the cap over the next three seasons and has flourished since joining the Celtics at the 2022 trade deadline,” he wrote. “If the Celtics made White available this offseason, they’d likely have no issue finding trade suitors for him. The question is what they’d be looking for in return and how they’d try to replace him. Since they’re over the second apron, they can’t aggregate contracts in trades or take back more salary in trades than they send out, so they could only trade White, Holiday or Porziņģis in standalone deals.”

White finished the regular season with career highs in points (16.4) and rebounds per game (4.5), while averaging 4.8 assists across 33.9 minutes per tilt. He’s also earned second-team All-Defense honors in each of the last two seasons and could do so again this year.

The Celtics and Knicks tip off Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.