New Orleans Pelicans: Giving Boston’s disappointing big man a scenery change

 This deal allows the Boston Celtics to restock their draft capital and create a roster spot by sending away a player they’ve given up on

Why the Celtics make the deal

For the Boston Celtics, this deal isn’t about the return more than it’s about the flexibility that this move grants them. See, the Celtics have officially used all of the draft picks they loaded up on, and they had to give a pair of second-round picks to the Charlotte Hornets in the Gordon Hayward sign-and-trade.

That means the Celtics are looking for draft capital because Danny Ainge is an executive who always likes to have the cupboard full in case a deal arises. Luckily for him, the Pelicans are loaded up with future picks and could benefit from offloading some of their excess second-rounders for a player who could help them now.

Back to Williams though, after being viewed as a promising big man when the Celtics drafted him 27th overall in 2018, he’s failed to live up to the hype. The problem with Williams isn’t that the talent is lacking, it’s that he struggled with maturity and understanding Brad Stevens system.

In his third year, the Celtics thought that Williams would finally make a leap, but so far in the preseason, he’s showing so many of the same issues, so the Celtics might be better served to get out ahead of time with Williams while he still has value.

That’s the view from the Boston Celtics side of the deal, so why does the deal benefit the New Orleans Pelicans? Let’s have a look.