The Boston Celtics have acquired guard Nate Robinson from the Denver Nuggets for veteran point guard Jameer Nelson, according to Yahoo! Sports' Marc Spears.
Nate Robinson traded to Celtics for Jameer Nelson, per reports
The Celtics will bring Robinson back into the fold after dealing him in 2011, but he isn’t expected to stay for long.
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The deal brings Robinson back to Boston for a second tour of duty, though he isn't expected to stay for long. Spears reports that he's expected to negotiate a buyout so he can be free to join a contender. The Clippers are a likely candidate, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.
The 30-year-old Robinson has bounced around the league since being dealt by the Celtics in 2011. He's averaging just 5.8 points in 14 minutes per game this year, both career lows. Nelson was signed to a two-year, $5.5 million deal by Dallas after being let go by the Magic, but was sent to Boston in the Rajon Rondo trade. He started at point guard for all 23 games with Dallas, but saw his playing time and production dwindle after being acquired by Boston.
Celtics' Recent Deals
Why are the Celtics acquiring Nate Robinson?
This is all about money for the Celtics. Nelson has a player option for $2.85 million next season, and chances are he’d pick that up given his dwindling play. Robinson has an expiring contract for $2.1 million and the Celtics will happily buy his deal out for a pro-rated fraction of his salary to set him free and clear even more cap space.
Had Robinson stayed, he'd be well behind Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley and Evan Turner in the guard pecking order. Nelson managed to carve out 20 minutes a game when he was on the team, but the Celtics are shifting to a youth movement and have no need for veterans like Robinson. The Clippers may use Robinson more because their backcourt is thin behind Chris Paul, J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford.
Why are the Nuggets acquiring Jameer Nelson?
This is a little more curious. Denver may believe it has a faint hope of making a playoff run and could use Nelson as insurance behind Ty Lawson. Nelson can still hit a three-pointer and run an offense, though the rest of his game has declined significantly.
But the Nuggets are still 3.5 games behind the Suns for eighth place and are behind Oklahoma City and New Orleans among teams chasing Phoenix. It's unlikely they'll muster enough momentum to make a playoff push. It's surprising that they'd want to add Nelson's salary to next year's books, though they aren't likely to have significant cap room anyway unless they sell off many of their veterans. As Denver Stiffs notes, maybe this makes it easier to part with other veterans like Arron Afflalo and Randy Foye.
It’s possible the Nuggets will be receiving draft compensation of some kind that has yet to be reported. The Celtics sure have a lot of draft picks.
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