Green Target: Keaton Wagler

While Steve Balmer and the Clippers are sure to go the United States court system in order to retrieve some draft capital a more likely scenario that getting all five forst rounders they were stripped of is some compromise where two are returned. Needless to say the Clippers aren't in a prime position to compete the rest of the decade and bottomig out with none of their picks belonging to them isn't an option.

The Clippers would be wise to do their due diligence and try to reaquire their 2028 first rounder that Boston owns. The Celtics sacrificed Jaylen Brown for that pick and the Clippers don't really have a veteran player worthy of trading it back for. Though unlikely there is a scenario where next summer the Celtics could offer the pick back for Keaton Wagler, but he would only be available if he had a pretty mediocre rookie season.

And there's the rub. If he lives up to draft expectations, the Clippers aren't trading him since he is their lone future potential star, but if he struggles as a rookie his value is likely then less than L.A's 2028 first rounder. There would have to be some middle window of performance to make a deal plausible for both teams.

Unlike most fan sites, blogs, or social media influencers we try here at Celtics Life to make any potential trade ideas realistic. If Wagler's rookie campaign places his value above the 2028 first round pick asset, the Celtics could kick additional draft capital or take back a worse contract than they are trading.

Conversely if Wagler's rookie campaign places his value below the 2028 first round pick asset, the Clippers could kick in an additional piece or take back a worse contract than the additional player they are trading. While its fun to specualate on potential future trades and Green Targets, we still need to preface this by cautioning that it's very rare for a team to trade a high lottery pick after just one year.

You really only see that with a positional log jam or as a win now move. Neither of those scenarios are in play for the Clippers. The Celtics traded both Chauncey Billups and Joe Johnson as rookies, but again those were win now moves and have been critically panned as awful trades.

NBA GM's don't trade their young cost controlled potential stars as freely now. Still it's worth keeping an eye on, sincè you know the Clipper would desperately want that 2028 pick back. It's hard to come up with a two team trade scenario where Brad Stevens would cough up that asset for anything less than a Wagler, but maybe Darius Garland has a healthy bounce back year and he could be rerouted to a third team with a better fit coming back to Boston for Paul George's expiring contract and that 2028 pick next summer.