If you told almost any NBA fan before the 2025-26 season that the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers would be separated by four spots in the Eastern Conference standings in mid-January, they would have envisioned the Cavs on top.
Well, here we are, more than 40 games into the season, and the opposite is true. The Celtics are holding down the second seed in the East, while the Cavaliers are just above Play-In territory as the sixth seed.
To be clear, the two clubs are only separated by two and a half games in the win-loss column. However, that gap would inevitably widen if the Celtics were to take action on their reported pursuit of Memphis Grizzlies center Jaren Jackson Jr.
Cavaliers better hope Celtics don't trade for Jaren Jackson Jr.
HoopsHype's Michael Scotto dropped an NBA trade buzz mega-article on Friday that featured a JJJ-Celtics link. Scotto affirmed the Grizz want to keep Jackson on the team past the deadline, but also that other clubs might still be interested in prying Jackson away, most notably the C's and the Detroit Pistons.
With rumors of a Jayson Tatum return slated for March (give or take), the idea of the Celtics adding both Tatum and Jackson to a group that's already an NBA Finals hopeful is nothing but a horrid thought for a team like Cleveland.
The Cavaliers could choose to make a splashy move of their own, but the overwhelming assumption is that Cleveland will keep its core four together for at least one more postseason run.
On the Celtics-Jackson front, the good news for Cleveland (and everyone else in the East) is that, despite Boston's reported interest in JJJ, a trade doesn't seem feasible financially. Remember that Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has been in the cost-cutting business lately.
Even if Stevens used Anfernee Simons' $27.7 million expiring contract and Sam Hauser's $10 million cap hit in a deal for JJJ (which would work financially), Stevens would be facing the reality of Jackson's cap hit rising from $35 million to $49 million next season. It then goes north of $50 million in each of the three seasons following.
Of course, Stevens's masterplan could be to snag Jackson and then flip him in another trade this summer. That's the only realistic pathway to this happening.
The Celtics' salary sheet wouldn't be able to handle the addition of a $49 million cap hit on top of the combined $145.9 million owed to Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Derrick White in 2026-27. The Cavaliers are likely safe. Now, back to focusing on their own issues.