Celtics Trade Aron Baynes To Phoenix As Part Of Draft Night Deal
BOSTON (CBS) -- In their quest to gain some cap space for this summer, the Boston Celtics have reportedly traded Aron Baynes to the Phoenix Suns.
Baynes goes to the Suns as part of a draft night trade that also landed Phoenix the No. 24 pick, which they used to draft Virginia point guard Ty Jerome.
The Suns are acquiring Celtics center Aron Baynes as part of the Ty Jerome trade, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 21, 2019
Boston is trading No. 24 to the Suns --- who are focused on taking Ty Jerome, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 21, 2019
Boston is receiving Milwaukee's 2020 first-round pick from Phoenix, sources say; MIL traded it to the Suns for Eric Bledsoe.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 21, 2019
In return, the Celtics received the Milwaukee Bucks' 2020 first-round pick, which Phoenix previously acquired when they sent point guard Eric Bledsoe to the Bucks. It's an odd move, considering the Celtics sent the No. 24 pick in this year's draft and Baynes to Phoenix for what will likely be an even later first-round pick in next year's draft. But cap space has become extremely important for the suddenly rebuilding Boston Celtics.
Though Baynes picked up his player option to stay in Boston just last week, quite a bit has changed over the last seven days. Kyrie Irving appears destined for Brooklynand news of Al Horford looking to sign elsewhere shocked everyone on Tuesday night. Without that veteran core, Baynes was expendable for the rebuilding Celtics, with Danny Ainge setting his sights on clearing cap space for the rest of the summer. If Boston renounces the rights to the rest of their pending free agents, they could have as much as $34 million to work with this summer.
Now we'll wait and see what Ainge does with the added cap space he cleared by sending Baynes to Phoenix.