Should the Celtics Trade Gordon Hayward?

Whether or not the Celtics should trade Gordon Hayward has become a bit of a hot topic in Boston sports right now. There are reasons why maybe the team should think about and there are reasons they should not. With the NBA trade deadline coming up on February 6th, Danny Ainge and the rest of the Boston front office will have to make a determination soon.

Reasons to Trade Hayward

In the bucket of reasons to trade Hayward, the first thing that usually comes up is his contract. He is making $32,700,690 this season and he has a player option for $34,187,085 next season. Some view him as overpaid and also as a potential way to match salary in a trade for a highly paid center or power forward that may better fit the team’s starting lineup. The other worry is if he were to choose to become a free agent and then sign with another team. In this scenario, the team would potentially not get anything of substance in return for him.

Another reason to possibly trade Hayward is that the Celtics currently have three star wing players in Hayward, Jalen Brown, and Jason Tatum. Combine those three with Kemba Walker, and the Celtics have four top players that often work best when the ball is in their hands. Many people worry that Hayward’s presence may stunt the growth of both Brown and Tatum. These two are considered the future of the franchise and fans do not want anything  or anyone standing in their way. With three solid scoring wings, the Celtics have a bit of redundancy and trading Hayward may be able to alleviate some of this.

The next reason for trading Hayward is to improve a team that with the right move may be able to be considered a contender now. This is not to say that Hayward is a bad player, but as we just noted, there is a bit of redundancy at his position. If he can be traded to strengthen another area such as center, then it may be for the best. His skill set would be missed, but the boost from the new acquisition may override this. You wouldn’t want to just give him away, but if you could get a quality starting big man, it could be worth it.

Reasons Not to Trade Hayward

One reason to not trade Hayward is that he is well liked by his teammates. Just this week, teammates have come out in his defense and said his contributions in the locker room are immeasurable. This happened after trade rumors started so it is safe to assume that his teammates are trying to publicly support their teammate to both fans and the front office. If this is the case and he is well liked and thought of in the locker room, and if he is also providing wisdom to younger players, this disruption in chemistry could lead to negative results.

Another reason not to trade Hayward is that he is at times one of the team’s best distrubutors with his abilities and willingness to sacrifice some of his scoring to set up his teammates. Although there is a bit of a position redundancy, Hayward is the best of the three wings at being a playmaker for others. He is averaging his second most assists in his career at 4.1 assists per game and he has also had some good rebounding games too. He does not just need to score when he has the ball in his hands and that is a valuable asset on this season’s Celtics team. This may be another reason why his teammates enjoy playing with him.

The potentially most important reason to not trade Hayward is that a good trade may not be available. If the Celtics cannot not get a good enough player or asset back in return, it simply does not make enough sense to just trade him. He has not been a liability when playing and you wouldn’t want to just give him away. Having Hayward, Brown and Tatum on the floor at the same time can still potentially cause matchup nightmares for other teams. It may be best to just see what you can get out of this incarnation of the team and hope everything perfectly gels at the right time.

The Celtics will have a tough choice to make with less than a week to make it. What would you do?