Celtics news & rumors: Yam Madar madness; Lonzo Ball highly unlikely

There is some excitement brewing over a 2020 second-round pick the Boston Celtics drafted and stashed.

With new Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens trading away the team’s 2021 first-round pick in the Kemba Walker deal for Al Horford and Moses Brown, the young player to watch this summer will be intriguing young point guard Yam Madar.

Selected with the No. 47 pick overall in the 2020 NBA Draft, Madar played for Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Israeli Basketball Premier League in 2020-21 and quite frankly, he balled.

Boston Celtics draft-and-stash prospect Yam Madar ready to showcase talent

Averaging 17.1 points and 5.2 assists over 30 games, the 20-year-old prospect not only created some excitement amongst Celtics fans, but also earned himself some workouts for the C’s and is expected to play in the Summer League in Las Vegas.

Will this gamble pay off for the Celtics?

Well, at 6-foot-3 with the passing and shooting skills he possesses, he certainly has the opportunity to be something special if he can translate his game to the NBA level.  As the youngest player to win the Premier Leauge’s Most Improved Player award, Madar is showcasing that he is a player who only gets better with experience.

Could there be some overhype here considering the team’s need for point guard depth?

It’s possible, but if he were to enter the 2021 draft, he would likely be a first-round pick, so at the very least for the Boston Celtics, he adds some excitement for the summer and a player certainly worth watching when the Summer League in Las Vegas gets underway in August.

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NBA trade rumors: Sorry Celtics fans, Lonzo Ball probably is not happening

Along with the Yam Madar hype, Boston Celtics fans are really pushing for the team to add New Orleans Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball to the mix.

With his passing skills and improvement in shooting, Ball would certainly be interesting in his ability to get the ball to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but Brad Stevens somehow acquiring him would take quite the maneuvering.

According to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston, the reality of Ball is highly unlikely mainly due to hard cap issues as it would be hard for the Celtics to absorb Ball’s $20 million per season cap hit.

Forsberg writes:

"“The Celtics cannot absorb Ball into any trade exceptions and would need to send out salary to match. But there’s a new complicating factor: The artist formally known as base year compensation. Long story short, the NBA previously put safeguards in place to prevent over-the-cap teams from signing free agents to inflated salaries in order to facilitate trades. While base year compensation was erased from the 2011 CBA, it lives on in scenarios like this.”"

He goes on to point out that since the Pelicans are over the cap, they can only take back $13 million in salary because of Ball’s outgoing value.  You really have to be an NBA salary cap nerd to sort this all out, but to simplify it, a third team would have to get involved for a deal to work for all sides.

With all that being said, the Celtics would have to perhaps lose two players in order to obtain Lonzo Ball in a deal.  A trade would have to include Marcus Smart and in taking on Ball’s deal, they team likely would be unable to afford Evan Fournier.

As promising as Ball is at the point guard position, it’s safe to say the 2021 version of the Boston Celtics would be much better with Smart and Fournier in the mix.  But, anything could happen and as this proves, Stevens is really going to have to prove his creativity to improve the current roster.