Should the Celtics trade Gordon Hayward or Jayson Tatum?

Despite dealing with a ton of injuries, the Boston Celtics started the season 25-8 and looked like they had the potential to make a deep playoff run. Lately, things have gone a bit sideways. Boston has been a .500 team in January, falling into the middle of the Eastern Conference. Still, it’s outlook is much more promising than it appeared when Kyrie Irving and Al Horford left prior to the season.

Is Gordon Hayward Worth His Salary?

Hayward is due a lot of money although there isn’t a ton of time left on his contract. Following this season, he will only have one final year left on his contract at $34 million. Hayward’s max contract with the Celtics has been a weird ride. He missed his entire first season after his horrific ankle injury, last season seemed to be spent finding his confidence and this year he’s finally putting it back together.

Hayward has really strong 50.9/37/88.1 shooting splits, making one of the best shooting seasons of his career. He is providing value, so I don’t think Boston should force a trade for him although his skills do overlap a lot with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. The Celtics could use a strong defensive big man and it makes way more sense to part with Hayward than Tatum or Brown. Boston wasn’t willing to trade Tatum for Anthony Davis, so there is no way he’s getting moved for anything nor would it make sense for him to be traded in just about any circumstance.