Celtics trade rumors: Could Kyle Lowry fill the hole left by Rajon Rondo’s injury?

The loss of Rajon Rondo to an ACL tear is obviously a huge blow to the Boston Celtics, and now general manager Danny Ainge has some decisions to make about the future of his roster. Does he look to blow things up by moving Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnett? Or does he look to bring in a viable replacement for Rondo and take one more run with the current core?

If Ainge chooses the latter, one name that could be on his radar is Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry. The Raptors are reportedly open to moving Lowry, and both CBS Sports' Ken Berger and ESPN's Marc Stein have brought up the Celtics as a potential option.

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Lowry has had an up-and-down season in his first year in Toronto after being traded from the Houston Rockets. The 26-year-old has been effective coming off the bench, averaging 13.5 points, 5.8 assists and 4.5 rebounds to go along with a stellar PER of 21.31. However, he has also battled some injuries and reportedly has not made many friends in his new digs.

The question then becomes who the Celtics would give up in order to acquire Lowry. The Celtics are about $2.4 million under the $74.3 million hard cap line, so they cannot take on too much salary. Would they be willing to move a guy like Courtney Lee, who they signed this off-season and just moved into the starting lineup? Or would they try and throw together a deal including some of their younger, cheaper players? Moving Avery Bradley or Jared Sullinger or both does not seem like an option at this point, so making a deal work could certainly be tricky.