Celtics Rival Makes Odd Trade To Bolster Fleeting Title Hopes

The Boston Celtics probably won’t do anything splashy at the trade deadline, but the rest of the NBA is seemingly throwing things at the wall.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks obviously made their shocking deal on Sunday, swapping Anthony Davis and Luka Doncic. The Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors appear to seriously be considering a monumental deal involving Kevin Durant. The San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento Kings got ahead of things by setting themselves up for an easier summer.

The Celtics have the luxury of being able to keep their roster intact while also being the defending champs, which means their closest competition is constantly trying to make moves to compete — whether they actually make a difference, or not.

The Milwaukee Bucks, for example, made one of those moves on Wednesday.

Milwaukee traded Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson and a pick swap to the Washington Wizards for Kyle Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and second-round draft compensation, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

Kuzma joins Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard in hopes to get over the hump out in Milwaukee, but how much of a difference will it make?

Kuzma is a consistent scorer who rarely misses games, which is a major improvement in two specific areas over Middleton, but he’s also terribly unreliable on the defensive end and has some of the worst efficiency stats in the NBA.

The Bucks aren’t going to be handing out shot attempts, either, which means he’s either going to have to improve his efficiency or suddenly become a legitimate wing defender to be playable at the end of games — especially in a potential series against Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

The Celtics probably aren’t worried, nor should they be.

The NBA is full of teams currently making lateral moves to straddle the luxury tax and/or convince their fan bases that they’re competing for a title. Boston, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks and a few other teams will stand pat — because they’re actually competing for one.