The Grizzlies have agreed to trade big man Xavier Tillman to the Celtics, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
According to Wojnarowski, Memphis will receive a pair of second-round draft picks from Boston in the deal: Atlanta’s 2027 second-rounder and Dallas’ 2030 second-rounder.
Tillman is in his fourth NBA season and has appeared in 207 total regular-season games for Memphis since being drafted 35th overall in 2020.
He’s having a down year for the struggling Grizzlies in 2023-24, shooting a career-worst 40.8 percent from the field, but has been a reliable depth piece in the past, averaging 6.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 17.1 minutes per game with a .552 FG percent in his first three seasons.
Tillman emerged as a trade candidate this season because he’s in the final year of his contract and didn’t project to be part of the Grizzlies’ future plans, having not signed a new deal with the club despite having been extension-eligible for the past two seasons.
Having fallen out of postseason contention this year, Memphis opted to get what it could for the 25-year-old, adding a couple of second-round picks to its collection of draft assets.
The injury-plagued club will also open up a spot on its 15-man roster to add a healthy player to replace Tillman, who has missed some time recently due to left knee soreness.
The Celtics, meanwhile, will add some frontcourt depth behind primary big men Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford.
Luke Kornet and two-way player Neemias Queta have given Boston some good minutes this season, but the team wanted to add another body up front for insurance purposes, especially since Porzingis and Horford have missed some games for health reasons.
The Celtics have an open spot on their 15-man roster, so they won’t have to cut anyone to take on Tillman.
They also won’t have to send out any matching salary, even though the big man’s minimum salary contract can’t be acquired using the minimum salary exception since they have a traded player exception available to accommodate the incoming cap figure.
Boston will use a portion of its $6.2M exception from last summer’s Grant Williams trade to absorb Tillman’s salary since the Justin Jackson TPE isn’t quite big enough, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
Adding Tillman to their roster increases the Celtics’ projected luxury tax bill by more than $6M, cap expert Yossi Gozlan notes, though that estimate could change if the team makes more moves before Thursday’s deadline.
An extension is no longer a viable option for Tillman due to extend-and-trade limitations, so he’ll become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Boston will hold his Bird rights at that time, allowing the team to re-sign him without requiring cap space.
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