Steven Adams' name continues to circulate around the NBA trade rumour mill with former teammate and 2008 NBA champion Kendrick Perkins the latest to suggest the Kiwi should be on the move.
Perkins, who became an NBA analyst after retiring in 2018, took to social media to share his thoughts on the upcoming trade deadline and who could benefit from acquiring Adams.
"The Celtics are missing one piece and that’s a Center that can anchor their defence!!!" Perkins wrote on Twitter.
"Gordon Hayward for Steven Adams?"
Hayward signed with the Celtics in 2017 on a four-year, NZ$194 million contract after rising to All Star status with the Utah Jazz earlier that year.
But after suffering a horror injury - a fractured tibia and dislocated ankle in his left leg - in his debut for the Celtics at the start of the 2017-2018 season, Hayward has struggled to rediscover that form and has seen his points-per-game drop by 10 to just 11.5 per outing.
As such, Perkins, who played with Adams at the Thunder until 2015, believes the fourth-placed Celtics should invest in acquiring Adams if they want to make a push for the title this season.
The analysis backs up comments from NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley earlier this month, who said the Thunder needed to accept while they were playing better than many expected, they won't win a title with their current roster and should trade their two biggest talents for future assets.
"Even as great as they're playing, they're the number seven seed and there's no number seven seed that's going to go deep in the playoffs in the Western Conference," Barkley said.
"It's going to be very interesting with the trade deadline coming up.
"You've got two guys who I think could take you from being [average] to being a champion, and that's Chris Paul and Steven Adams."
While Adams' big contract could be an issue for some clubs with the big Kiwi owed $52 million over the next two years, that issue is effectively nullified when Hayward comes into the mix due to the one-time All Star's own large contract.
A move to the Celtics would also see Adams reunited with another former Thunder teammate and "'Stache Brother" Enes Kanter.
This season's trade deadline falls on February 6.
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