The Celtics are currently the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference, but one of the stories of their season has been around their lack of depth at the center position.
They lost/parted ways with Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet this past offseason, which severely depleted a team with arguably the most depth at the center position in the past couple of seasons.
Players like Ivica Zubac have come up as trade targets recently, but the Celtics could choose to go after a player that Celtics fans are very familiar with and would be thrilled to have back for a second stint with the team.
What former Celtic could the team trade for?
NBA analyst Chris Mannix suggested that the Celtics could go after Robert Williams in the next couple of weeks for a few reasons.
The Celtics have mainly been running a rotation centered around Neemias Queta and Luka Garza playing the center position, but rebounding and defensive issues have come up at times because of their limited depth.
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The Celtics were expected to be in a gap year with Jayson Tatum out for most of the season, so they freed themselves from tax penalties with the expectation that they wouldn't be as strong a frontrunner for a title as they were in recent years.
They're still not expected to be too aggressive financially because of the new penalties and rules that have been implemented, but they still could attempt to go after a center at this year's deadline, with the hope that they could make a playoff run, especially if Tatum returns before the end of the season.
Robert Williams was traded away when the Celtics acquired Jrue Holiday a few offseasons ago, and he could be a player who enhances this roster if they brought him back.
The Celtics have been known to bring back centers for a second stint in the last decade, with Al Horford, Enes Freedom and Daniel Theis all having multiple stints with the team in the last 10 years.
The Celtics will have some difficult decisions to make if they do want to trade for Williams, as he's making around $13 million this season (will be a UFA this upcoming summer).
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The Trail Blazers have plenty of depth with centers, so trading away Williams would make sense, especially with his contract expiring soon.
For a deal to happen, the Celtics might have to give up a player like Sam Hauser to make the trade work financially.
Hauser has had an off-year, and the Celtics have had forwards step up, such as Jordan Walsh, Josh Minott and Baylor Scheierman.
Another option for the Celtics is getting a third or fourth team involved in a potential trade to avoid trading away Hauser, but they'd likely have to include draft compensation.
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