Boston Celtics

What Will the Celtics Do With David Lee?

Justin Ford/USA TODAY Sports

When the Boston Celtics acquired David Lee over the summer, some felt that he’d be a key piece in helping the Celtics improve upon their 2014-15 campaign and reach the playoffs for the second straight season.

Suffice it to say, things haven’t really worked out that way.

While Lee began the season as a starter and a key rotational player, he fell out of favor with Brad Stevens in January. Since the start of the New Year, Lee has only played in two games, his last minutes coming all the way back on Jan. 10.

Let’s be honest here: you’re kidding yourself if you didn’t see this coming.

With Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk, Amir Johnson, Tyler Zeller and Jonas Jerebko in tow, it was a miracle that Lee got that many minutes over the first couple of months as it was.

Not only are all five players younger than Lee, but they simply don’t have the defensive limitations that the big man does.

Lee is also past the point where he’s productive enough offensively that you can deal with his ineptitude on the other end of the floor.

The former Golden State Warrior has a true shooting percentage of 49.9 percent, an effective field goal percentage of 45.3 percent, is shooting only 53.3 percent at the rim and has an offensive net rating of minus-9.6, per Basketball-Reference.com.

Those numbers are simply abysmal across the board.

Due to the fact that this marriage was essentially doomed from the start, Lee is now on the chopping block and will either be traded or bought out, per Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck.

Here’s the thing: Lee doesn’t exactly have much (if any) trade value, and due to his salary, trading him will be very difficult.

The 32-year-old, who’s in the final year of his contract, is making a little over $15 million, so it’s going to be tough for the Celtics to find a feasible trading partner who can match salaries.

This isn’t a Jordan Crawford situation. The C’s aren’t going to be able to trade Lee and get draft picks in return, and Danny Ainge certainly understands this.

That’s why a buyout seems like the more likely occurrence.

Of course, buyouts can get messy, as coming to an agreement could be like pulling teeth. The Celtics are obviously going to want to shell out as little cash for Lee as possible, which is why they’ll absolutely try to trade him before the Feb. 18 deadline first.

Realistically, the only way Boston can probably trade Lee is in a package for a noteworthy player like Dwight Howard, as Lee can merely be used as a throw-in to help match salaries.

There’s also the chance that another star-level player becomes available, in which case Ainge can include Lee in a package that also consists of draft picks and young players.

For example, there have been rumblings about Al Horford potentially going to Beantown, but the probability of that happening seems relatively slim.

Earlier in the season, it looked like DeMarcus Cousins could be a potential target, but with the Sacramento Kings threatening to make the playoffs and Cousins playing like an MVP candidate of late, that seems like a pipe dream at this point.

Some C’s fans are also holding out hope that the Oklahoma City Thunder could trade Kevin Durant, but come on; be serious.

Perhaps the Brooklyn Nets could part with Brook Lopez, but is he really the type of guy the Celtics want to give up valuable assets for and invest in long term?

Probably not.

Clearly, trading Lee is going to be an exceedingly difficult task. Buying him out appears to be the much more probable scenario.

One thing seems to be definite, though: David Lee’s time in Boston is running out.

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