It seems that the Boston Celtics think of the world of Hugo Gonzalez. So much so that the team reportedly refused to include him in their trade package for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is now the newest member of the Miami Heat.
During Monday night's episode of "SportsCenter," ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the Milwaukee Bucks were trying to acquire Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, and multiple first-round picks in addition to Jaylen Brown. The Celtics, however, opted not to make that happen.
“The Bucks wanted more assets. They wanted a couple young players: Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, potentially others. They wanted more first-round picks, more swaps… At the end of the day, my understanding is the Celtics were not willing to part with enough young players and assets to get a deal done,” Charania said.
"The Celtics were not willing to part with enough young players and assets to get a deal done."@ShamsCharania says Boston offered Jaylen Brown and two first-round picks for Giannis Antetokounmpo before he was traded to Miami 👀 pic.twitter.com/WvGCveMwjE
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 23, 2026
The Celtics have high hopes for Hugo Gonzalez
The first thing that jumped out at me after this report was that Boston clearly sees something in Gonzalez.
(The second thing was that this would have been a massive overpay for the Celtics. Trading Brown for Antetokounmpo straight up would have been risky, but now you have to trade a ton of assets and young players for someone who might be broken down in a few years? I know some fans are upset this didn't go down, but trust me, you shouldn't be.)
After the Celtics' first-round playoff collapse against the Philadelphia 76ers last month, team president Brad Stevens spoke highly of the one-year pro and made it clear he will be a big part of their future.
“Hugo had a great rookie year and is a critical part of us moving forward. His athleticism can meet the moment in the big games. That’s a real thing," Stevens said about Gonzalez during a media appearance on May 6.
Gonazlez plays with a ton of energy, hustles on every play, and has the makings of being an elite defender at the NBA level. He's not much of a scorer yet (he averaged 3.9 points on 47.6/36.2/50% shooting splits in 14.6 minutes as a rookie), but he's still just 20 years old, has the time to grow, and brings immense value everywhere else.
(And on top of that, it's hard for him to be a scorer when he's playing behind the Jays, Scheierman, and Sam Hauser.)
It might not seem like it at the moment, but Boston was right not to include him in their trade package for Antetokounmpo (and if the Bucks not landing him was enough to go with Miami's offer, that should say a lot about how the rest of the league views him, too).
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