Boston Celtics don't believe for a second they would trade this NBA Champion to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Celtics Fans In Disbelief After Lakers Trade Prediction originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Boston Celtics have made a few key trades this offseason. After trading Jrue Holiday for Anfernee Simons, they then traded Kristaps Porzingis for Georges Niang. It wasn't too long afterward that they then flipped Niang for RJ Luis Jr. Boston made all these moves in the hope of getting firmly under the NBA's second tax apron.
The Celtics could also avoid the repeater tax along with getting under the NBA's first tax apron if they want. Last Wednesday, ESPN's Zach Kram floated the idea of potentially trading Sam Hauser to the Los Angeles Lakers, which would help the Celtics save more money as Hauser will start a four-year, $45 million contract this season.
"The Lakers probably could acquire players such as Grayson Allen (10th) and Sam Hauser (12th) in trades without too much fuss if they wanted," he wrote.
Kram did not elaborate on how the Celtics and Lakers would get a deal done because dumping Hauser for nothing doesn't work financially for the latter. However, he seemed to make it seem like something LA could do with ease, which caught the attention of Boston fans.
Celtics Fans in Disbelief Over Potential Sam Hauser Trade to the Lakers
If Boston truly is desperate to save even more money, dumping Hauser on a team like the Lakers could technically work as long as the Celtics don't have to take back salary in the process. In a situation like that, they would have to find a third team to which the Lakers could send one of their contracts.
It doesn't matter, though, because the Lakers are the Celtics' most historic rival. Not only that, but they have title aspirations this summer, so even if the Celtics were looking to trade Hauser, they wouldn't trade him to the Lakers. For that reason, Celtics fans highly questioned this notion of Boston sending Hauser to Los Angeles.
Reporting with @mcten@TimBontemps@zachkramhttps://t.co/pNKgqf0yR8pic.twitter.com/wpRfhcVq29
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) August 6, 2025
"(Kram) 100% delusional article you’re out of your mind," one wrote with a skull emoji at the end.
"Yuk!! Lakers already have (Marcus) Smart. Sure as [expletive] not trading Hauser to them for a sack of rocks and a big salary!!" another exclaimed.
"The classic 'everyone should give LA good players for nothing,'" another fan declared.
"I'm sorry, what the [expletive] is this?" asked another. "The whole point in potentially moving Hauser would be to get under the luxury tax, so how does trading for $11M do that??
"Why would the Celtics even entertain Gabe Vincent," asked another. "Did Rich Paul write this article? LeBron?"
Because the Celtics wanted to avoid being above the NBA's second tax apron for the third straight season, trading Hauser would have helped with that. However, with Holiday, Porzingis, and Niang all off their payroll, there's no current need to trade Hauser.
The Celtics are firmly below the NBA's second tax apron, meaning that no more trades are necessary.
Related: Celtics Seeking Another Blockbuster Trade on $100 Million Scorer
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 12, 2025, where it first appeared.
Category: Basketball
