Jeff Green will be traded. Austin Rivers will be traded — twice. The Boston Celtics are making a major roster overhaul. And the particulars, if those trades are consummated, are confusing.
Until the NBA offices open Monday, the extent of what appears to be a three-team, five player deal involving the two men mentioned remained undetermined. It doesn't mean speculation wasn't running rampant.
Green appears headed for the Memphis Grizzlies. Rivers likely join the Los Angeles Clippers, where he will play for dad Doc Rivers, who is that team's coach. The Celtics are expected to acquire Tayshaun Price and a first-round pick to further their reconstruction.
CSN New England set up the deal involving the Celtics, Grizzles and New Orleans Pelicans. It would see guard Russ Smith go from the Pelicans to the Grizzlies and Quincy Poindexter and a second-round pick go to New Orleans.
Rivers would be go to Celtics from the Pelicans and then be dealt to the Clippers for a second-round pick, which seems less than enough for a former 10th overall pick.
Prince and Rivers both reportedly have contracts that are expiring. That appears to why the Celtics will move him shortly after concluding the three-way deal.
Well-connected NBA observer Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports says there's more at work in this already-complicated arrangement. The Clippers are trying to find a third to for the Rivers trade, he reports. It was not immediately clear what players and team might be involved.
Here's what's easy: The Celtics aren't standing still. They already traded Rajon Rondo. They traded Brandan Wright. They sat Jeff Green preparing the correct mixture for a trade. And GM Danny Ainge is the mad scientist behind the multiple concoctions. He will wind up with mass amounts of cap space and a plethora of picks this year and next.
Ainge might not be finished. He has more moves to ponder ahead of the NBA trade deadline, with veteran players as his likely bargaining chips. Meanwhile, it's fair to ask whether the Celtics' rebuilding plan is on the right track.
And nothing, it seems, will be official until Adam Silver flips the switch on Monday. Either the commish or an appropriate minion, that is, and the scramble is on.