The Boston Celtics are already receiving trade interest in the No. 1 overall pick.
Celtics president Danny Ainge admitted that a “handful of teams” had already asked about trading for the selection.
“The only thing we know for certain is we have the No. 1 pick,” Ainge told Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. “What we don’t know for certain is who that person is yet and what sort of value the pick can get us if we choose to go another direction other than just drafting that pick.”
Ainge clarified that the Celtics would be happy to keep the pick, but if they do trade it, they’ll look for another first rounder in return.
“There’s two things that are happening,” Ainge said. “I think the value of [the pick] increases the closer you get to the draft is one, and two is we really need to know the value of the whole draft, because some of the conversations that you have are trading down in the draft and trading picks for players, moving backward and so forth.
“So we’re in the process of evaluating the whole draft, and we’re fielding phone calls.”
We know the Celtics are looking to take another big step forward this summer. A big trade could definitely accomplish that, but they may be happy to stay put and likely draft Markelle Fultz.
