The Boston Celtics is the team that seems to head the trade rumors as President for Basketball Operations Danny Ainge has built them that way.
Yet the Celtics have not yet made a transaction. Their vaunted treasure chest of draft assets has not generated enough interest to acquire a star. However, there are rumors that the Celtics are overvaluing their players and that is the reason why trading has stalled.
So far, only the expiring contract of David Lee has been officially placed on the trading block as per NBA.com.
"The Celtics have been very solid, but Coach Brad Stevens has a minutes problem, as evidenced by the lack of time for David Lee-whose expiring contract is available, per league sources."
However, Lee's huge contract is expiring and there is hardly any interest in him except to get rid of a bad contract-which the Celtics would also not accept.
Even the Celtics fans are impatient with their team. In Celtics Blog, user Jon McKay wrote about how the Celtics are overvaluing their players and he used the hypothetical DeMarcus Cousins trade as an example.
It was rumored that the Celtics would not include Marcus Smart in any trade package for Cousins. Why should anyone be untouchable for Cousins?
The maturity issues for Cousins are "overblown" and even Smart has had his own issues. It's just the "homerism" of the Celtics who think their players are better than the ones they are trying to acquire, even if they are already stars.
He also cited that Kevin Garnett, prior to being traded to the Celtics was criticized for his character issues and being a perennial loser-not too far from what they are saying about Cousins. But KG won the championship when the Celtics traded for him and two other superstars.
Danny Ainge and even Brad Stevens know that their current roster is not a championship roster. They could probably win a round in the playoffs at best. The entire league knows they need a star so there's no use trying to play coy to gain leverage. What would they do with all their draft picks and supporting players if they don't trade them for a star?