Boston has traded guard Avery Bradley and a second-round pick to Detroit, according to an ESPN report. In return, the Celtics will get forward Marcus Morris.
Since landing free agent Gordon Hayward on the Fourth of July, the Celtics have been aggressively pursuing trades as a way of clearing cap space for Hayward's max money. As recently as Thursday, the Celtics were in talks with Utah for a sign-and-trade that would send Hayward to Boston and Jae Crowder to the Jazz, but those talks stalled early Thursday morning.
Bradley is entering the final year of his contract worth $8.8 million, and will likely command big money when he becomes a free agent in 2018. Hanging on to him would have been difficult for the Celtics, who are not only paying Hayward the maximum, but will also have to worry about the contracts of Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart next summer when they become free agents.
Although Bradley was a valuable two-way player for the C's, trading him away has a minor impact on the team's success according to SportsLine projections, which show just a .5 decrease in wins (from 54.5 to 54) after dealing him to Detroit. For the Pistons, however, Bradley's acquisition gives the team an increased win projection of 4.6 (from 36.8 to 41.4) according to SportsLine.
