National Basketball Association

Celtics reporter says there's a '35-40 percent chance' LaMarcus Aldridge goes to Boston

Published May. 13, 2015 2:27 p.m. ET

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Until only a few months ago, it seemed completely implausible free-agent-to-be LaMarcus Aldridge would make any offseason decision other than staying in Portland this summer.

Oh, how a first-round playoff loss can change things.

The Blazers sputtered down the stretch of the season, dealing with injuries seemingly to the whole roster. Wes Matthews tore his Achilles and found himself out for the year. His replacement, Arron Afflalo, played injured during the Blazers' first round series against the Grizzlies. Don't forget that Aldridge, meanwhile, played most of the season with hand issues which required surgery in the middle of the year until the power forward vetoed the operation and attempted to play out the rest of the season hurt.

As the rumors swirl, some have floated over to Boston, where CSNNE's Sherrod Blakely believes the Celtics, who many expect to be players in the Kevin Love sweepstakes, have a legitimate shot to sign Aldridge this offseason.

"My understanding is the Celtics are going to be open to putting together some type of package deal where they would not only bring in LaMarcus Aldridge, they'd bring in one of his good friends by the name of Wes Matthews," Blakely said on an episode of Celtics Talk TV. "Now, if you're the Celtics and you can put together a deal to get those two guys in town, you've gotta do it."

But it sounds like a long shot, right? We haven't heard any rumors grouping Aldridge and general manager Danny Ainge or coach Brad Stevens or anyone else on the Celtics together. Apparently, Blakely believes otherwise.

"I'm going to go high with this one. I think there's a 35-40 percent chance that he's going to come here," Blakely clarified. "Here's the thing about LaMarcus Aldridge: He's going to look for a situation that is going to give him the best shot of going deep in the playoffs."

The 29-year-old Aldridge averaged 23.8 points and 10.4 rebounds during his ninth NBA season and is an absolute lock to receive a max contract (if he wants one) this offseason. Of course, he could elect to snag a one-year deal and sign an even bigger one during the summer of 2016, when the cap is expected to rise from about $67 million (next year's projected number) to just under $90 million once the NBA's new and luscious television deal kicks into effect. With the max set merely as a percentage of the current year's cap, he could end up a much wealthier man subscribing to that strategy.

Either way, the Aldridge-to-Boston rumors have now officially begun. If he were to skip Portland for green, he could be the biggest free-agent signing in Celtics history. Let the chaos ensue.

(H/t to MassLive's Jay King for the find.)