The NBA rumor mill is churning as the days leading up to the trade deadline go by. The Memphis Grizzlies have begun shopping Ja Morant, but the one Grizzlies player that opposing teams are reportedly monitoring, and have been since early in the season, is Jaren Jackson Jr., as per ClutchPoints’ NBA insider Brett Siegel. And the one team that licking their chops for the chance to pull off a Jackson trade is the Boston Celtics, as per Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm.
In the wake of the Ja Morant trade talks, the Grizzlies seemingly want Jaren Jackson Jr to be the future of the team. After all, he is still only 26-years-old and a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate. He could be a missing piece type of addition, and the Celtics are reportedly hoping that could be them.
“Multiple league sources have asserted something whispered in the wind for a long time: The Boston Celtics would love to add Jaren Jackson Jr.,” Moore reports. “There is no team I’ve heard with more interest for Jackson. The problem, of course, is what kind of deal that looks like.”
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Jackson is an All-Star and still approaching the prime of his career. This season, he’s appeared in 37 games at a little over 30 minutes per game. He’s averaging 18.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.5 blocked shots with splits of 47.9 percent shooting from the field, 36.1 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 76.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
Moore suggests that the Celtics’ main players would be off the table in a potential Jackson trade, but that Simons’ expiring contract would be a main talking point. The Celtics would also have to include plenty of draft compensation, and a few young players like Hugo Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh.
As Siegel noted, the Grizzlies reportedly intend to keep Jackson as a pillar for the future, but this is the NBA, and things can change in an instant.