Trades between division rivals are rare, especially when the teams involved have a rivalry. But the Celtics and Knicks are in rather unqiue situations, Boston is rebuilding while the Knicks are trying to keep Carmelo Anthony from leaving as a costless agent, so making a deal may actually benefit both of them. This weekend, NY Daily News writer Frank Isola reported the Knicks and Celtics are discussing a deal involving PG Rajon Rondo and SG/SF Iman Shumpert, to make the deal work under the salary cap a few other players would have to be involved. Let's look at some potential versions of the deal and how they would impact both teams (all of these deals work under the salary cap)
1) Amare Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert for Rajon Rondo and Gerald Wallace.
Should the Celtics decide to trade Rondo now would be the ideal time. He is still under contract through end of next season, and so they would get a better return then when he has just an expiring contract (Utah got a big return for Deron Williams when he had same amount of time left on his deal as Rondo does today). But because Rondo is recovering from an ACL knee injury (he is expected back at some point in late December) the Celtics are in a tough spot. Ideally the Celtics would get back a player for Rondo who would be a building block once Boston is ready to contend again- honestly hard to imagine a better player than Shumpert when you look at deal this way. Shumpert is an elite defender, who is more than adequate offensively (he is one of only 11 NBA starters who is shooting over 40% on 3s and over 86% on costless throws). Shumpert is still on his rookie deal so to make the deal work under the cap some other players would need to be involved. The Celtics took Gerald Wallace (and his horrible 3 year $30 million deal) back in Pierce/Garnett trade and would love to move him. While Amare Stoudemire looks completely washed up he has a shorter contract than Wallace, and the Celtics could trade him next season when his deal is expiring. From the Knicks perspective, they get back Rondo who would be a great complimentary piece for Anthony. The NBA is a point guard driven league and a healthy Rondo would increase the Knicks chances of retaining Anthony who is a costless agent at the end of this season, and in the short term Gerald Wallace is a better player than what we have seen from Amare this season. As much as I love Rondo, this would be a great deal for Celtics- they would have Shumpert hitting his peak as Boston is ready to contend and they unload Gerald Wallace. There are so few good shooting guards in NBA that Iman Shumpert is even more valuable these days.
2) Amare Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert for Rajon Rondo and Khris Humphries.
This would be a better version of the trade for Knicks since Humphries has an expiring contract so this deal would improve the Knicks cap situation. Humphries would also help the Knicks with rebounding. Not sure this deal is enticing enough for Celtics, and the Knicks have no picks to offer to sweeten it.
3) Amare Stoudemire, Iman Shumpert and Raymond Felton for Rajon Rondo, Gerald Wallace and Courtney Lee
This trade is a good middle ground. Celtics still get the cap relief of shedding Wallace and the building block of Shumpert. I like both Felton and Courtney Lee (one of the best defensive guards in the NBA) but they make more sense heading to Celtics and Knicks respectively. Felton is on a reasonable contract and he could be a serviceable PG for Celtics while also being a trade asset, Courtney Lee would be an ideal backup for a Rondo/JR Smith backcourt in New York and is signed to a reasonable contract ($15 million over the next 3 years).
While I do think it's not very likealy that the Knicks and Celtics would do a trade within the division, it's almost impossible to predict what Knicks owner Dolan will do now that the team is off to a poor start. The Celtics are amongst the shrewdest teams in NBA and have many assets to make a trade, as much as they like Rondo and are saying all the right things about keeping him, they are likely to move him for ther ight deal- Shumpert could be a great building block for the future.