{"id":208885,"date":"2025-10-08T10:46:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T10:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/208885\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T10:46:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T10:46:11","slug":"nba-writer-names-potential-celtics-trade-target-ahead-of-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/208885\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Writer Names Potential Celtics Trade Target Ahead Of Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Celtics face uncertainty in their frontcourt this season, especially at the center position. While Boston <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2025\/09\/celtics-writer-suggests-potential-options-for-starting-center\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">will consider starting<\/a> Neemias Queta at center, his limited experience \u2014 having started only six games throughout his four-year NBA career \u2014 complicates this choice.<\/p>\n<p>If Boston hopes to secure a playoff spot next April, it needs to add another experienced center to strengthen its lineup.<\/p>\n<p>Bleacher Report\u2019s Greg Swartz highlighted Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler as a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25254953-1-ambitious-trade-target-every-team-during-2025-26-nba-season\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">potential trade target<\/a> for the Celtics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Utah is willing to move on from the premier shot-blocker, the Boston Celtics desperately need a new starting center and should make a call,\u201d Swartz wrote on Tuesday. \u201cWith a depleted center position following the departures of Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is, Al Horford and Luke Kornet, Boston needs a new starting center and won\u2019t want to break the bank after shedding so much salary this past offseason. Kessler\u2019s $4.8 million salary would be easy to match.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kessler has spent three seasons in Utah, where he has averaged 9.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in 196 games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"nesn-in-content-ad__copy\">Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>With Porzingis gone, the Celtics need someone who can protect the rim, and Kessler ranks among the NBA\u2019s elite shot blockers. If Boston can acquire the 24-year-old center, it will be tough for opposing teams to attack the hoop.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Celtics face uncertainty in their frontcourt this season, especially at the center position. While Boston will consider&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99,21146],"class_list":["post-208885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-walker-kessler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}