Dejounte Murray – San Antonio Spurs – 2021-22 Salary: $15,428,880

They would likely have to give up a fair amount of draft assets, as well as a young talent like Aaron Nesmith or Romeo Langford, but Dejounte Murray from the San Antonio Spurs could be a really strong trade target for the Celtics to monitor. After decades of dominance, the Spurs have finally come back down to Earth and they are going to wind up being one of the bottom-tier teams in the league, record-wise, during the 2021-22 season. 

Finding ways to build for the future and continuing to develop young talents will be a goal of theirs, but they could also look to trade away some of their young talents if they can get a ton of return for them.

Dejounte Murray was a player rumored to be available in trade talks earlier this offseason, so San Antonio could possibly look to leverage him if they view Derrick White, Lonnie Walker IV and rookie Joshua Primo as their future backcourt. 

The 24-year-old guard was drafted 29th overall in 2016 by the Spurs and has quickly become a player on the verge of having a breakout year. Being a lengthy, athletic guard makes Dejounte Murray a very intriguing young point guard in this league and the fact that he averaged 15.7 points per game last season is very promising.

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Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two All-Stars that could lead a team to a championship, but the talent surrounding them right now does not make up a championship-contending roster. Al Horford, Marcus Smart and now Josh Richardson are all solid secondary players, but the Celtics really do not have that third key contributor that many other playoff teams do have.

Getting Murray not only gives the Celtics an asset they can utilize to win now, but also an asset that they could look to leverage down the line as well. Bradley Beal is a guy Boston has had their eye on in trade talks for years now and having a young, versatile guard like Murray is advantageous to them if Beal becomes available since he is well-respected and highly-viewed league-wide as a young and upcoming point guard.

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Dejounte Murray is not only growing as an all-around offensive talent, but he is an above-average defender already, making him a very valuable backcourt asset. Boston does have Marcus Smart, Dennis Schroder and Payton Pritchard as their point guard options, but they would be much better off long-term with Dejounte Murray commanding their backcourt.