It wouldn't be a bad outcome if the Boston Celtics fail to land a marquee player during the 2022 NBA offseason.
The Celtics don't need a major roster overhaul. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two of the league's best young stars. Recent first-round draft picks Robert Williams, Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard still have plenty of room for improvement, too.
Forsberg: Laying out the Celtics' free-agent options using MLE
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Bolstering the bench and adding outside shooting is perhaps the best course of action for the Celtics in free agency and the trade market.
One intriguing target is New York Knicks guard Alec Burks. The Celtics reportedly are among several teams with "a degree of interest" in acquiring Burks via trade, per SNY's Ian Begley. The Knicks are motivated to clear salary cap space in their pursuit if free agent guard Jalen Brunson.
Burks has a $10 million salary cap hit next season and a club option for 2023-24 at about $10.4 million, per Spotrac. His salary would fit into the trade exception the Celtics created when they sent guard Evan Fournier to the Knicks last summer.
Boston Celtics
Burks averaged 11.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and three assists per game for the Knicks last season. His outside shooting would help the Celtics tremendously. Burks has hit 40 percent or better from 3-point range in each of the last two seasons. He's a 38 percent 3-point shooter for his career.
The 30-year-old veteran also played 18 games for the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2019-20 campaign, and one of his assistant coaches in Philly was current Celtics head coach Ime Udoka.
Burks would give the Celtics good outside shooting, bench scoring and some playmaking ability. Boston's bench could use more of all three.