Latest Celtics Trade Rumor Called 'Absolute Insanity.' There's a Good Reason Why

We know why the rumor is spreading, but the closer we look at it, the less likely it seems

Apr 3, 2026; Sacramento, California, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III (25) reacts after dunking against the Sacramento Kings during the third quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Welcome to June, when the trade rumors start challenging mosquitoes in the race to be the most annoying thing flying around you at all times. Unfortunately there's no spray or candle you can light to make the rumors go away. 

The latest Boston Celtics rumor involves New Orleans Pelicans wing Trey Murphy III, which started when Bill Simmons said on his podcast that “We assume he's probably going to get traded over these next three weeks. I think Boston is a possibility … but you have two, three weeks to trade for somebody like that.”

He also mentioned the OKC Thunder as a possibility, with the two or three week window presumably meaning it needs to happen before the NBA draft later this month. 

Simmons is connected enough to hear things about the NBA, but he’s not a reporter who is constantly digging to break news, so he leaves enough room to tie a speculation rocket to the aggregation of the story. Still, the wording of it (“we assume he is probably going to get traded”) leaves an out should nothing materialize. 

Enter The Athletic’s Will Guillory, who covers the Pelicans and Rockets, who went to X to squash any of that speculation. 

Just want to make sure I'm on record saying any talk of trading Trey Murphy is absolute insanity

— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) June 1, 2026

“Just want to make sure I'm on record saying any talk of trading Trey Murphy is absolute insanity,” he posted. 

The basic facts support Guillory’s stance. Murphy III is a borderline All-Star who only turns 26 in a couple of weeks. He’s averaged over 20 points per game and has developed into a two-way player on a reasonable (by 2026 standards) contract that averages less than $30 million per year over the next three seasons. 

That's not the kind of player you trade away. That's a player to keep as part of a good core. 

Even if the Pelicans felt like rebuilding, Zion Williamson would be the prime candidate to be traded in that scenario, and they have repeatedly insisted that he’s not going anywhere. Unless the Pelicans are using Murphy III as the catalyst to move into the top four of this year’s draft, he’s the kind of player a team would want to keep as a building block. 

Could Boston be a destination in a “win-now” move? Only if they're parting with Jaylen Brown. 

A Derrick White deal to New Orleans doesn’t make sense because it’s not a meaningful upgrade and it would cost the Pelicans more money for an older player. Brown would at least give the Pelicans a number one option to pair with Williamson, and it could be a way to dump Jordan Poole’s salary, but I can’t imagine why Boston would want to do that when other options to add a scorer exist. 

Boston doesn’t have the draft assets to compete with an Oklahoma City bid, if that's what the Pelicans would be angling for. They can only compete in a win-now situation and that would be incredibly drastic at this point. It doesn’t fit where Boston is right now. 

We can revisit this again at the trade deadline, depending on where both teams are at that point. Maybe it’s something that could be up for discussion next summer if certain things break certain ways. Right now? I agree that trading Murphy III would be insanity, even for a Pelicans team prone to such things.