The Boston Celtics will not be the winners of the Lonzo Ball sweepstakes, as the 23-year-old has signed a four-year, $85 million offer sheet with the Chicago Bulls as part of a sign-and-trade between the Bulls and New Orleans Pelicans.
In exchange for Ball, the Pelicans will receive guards Tomas Satoransky and Garrett Temple, as well as a future second-round pick, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
It was always unlikely that the Celtics were going to pull off a move for Ball, the No. 2 overall pick from the 2017 NBA Draft, but the C’s did enter the open market with a reported interest in the ex-Laker guard. It surely helped that the California-born Ball showed some significant improvement in his scoring game in 2020-21, too, with a career-high 14.6 points per game, along with a career-best 41.4 field goal percentage (and 37.8 percent mark from beyond the arc), in 55 games for New Orleans.
Ball is not the only now-off-the-board talent for the Celtics, as Kelly Olynyk signed a three-year deal with the Detroit Pistons shortly into the start of free agency.
Olynyk, who spent the first four years of his eight-year NBA career with the Celtics, was one of the veterans linked to the C’s by the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach ahead of the start of free agency.
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Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.
