{"id":736390,"date":"2026-05-17T02:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/736390\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T02:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:21:17","slug":"how-possible-cavs-game-7-loss-to-pistons-could-affect-celtics-offseason-plans-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/736390\/","title":{"rendered":"How Possible Cavs Game 7 Loss To Pistons Could Affect Celtics’ Offseason Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Possible Cavs Game 7 Loss To Pistons Could Affect Celtics’ Offseason Plans<\/a> originally appeared on NESN<\/a>. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers are heading into Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinal against the Detroit Pistons<\/a> on Sunday night. If Cleveland<\/a> loses this crucial game, it could significantly impact the Boston Celtics<\/a> this offseason.<\/p>\n

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Recently, there’s been considerable buzz about the Bucks trading Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason. Additionally, there’s growing speculation that the Celtics could enter the mix by offering their star guard Jaylen Brown<\/a> in a deal.<\/p>\n

If the Cavaliers lose Game 7, it might prompt them to make a bold move for Antetokounmpo, potentially putting the Celtics at a disadvantage. The Cavs<\/a> would have the upper hand in negotiations, since they can offer their star forward Evan Mobley<\/a>, one of the NBA’s best young talents. The Celtics, lacking a player of Mobley’s caliber, would find it difficult to compete; if the Bucks had to choose between Mobley and Brown, they\u2019d likely favor the Mobley deal without hesitation.<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s NBA insider Ramona Shelburne noted that after<\/a> the Bucks decided against trading Antetokounmpo at the deadline, they seemed interested in young prospects for a possible future deal, with Mobley being of particular interest.<\/p>\n

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“The players the Bucks did seem interested in were younger building blocks such as\u00a0VJ Edgecombe<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Evan Mobley\u00a0of the\u00a0Cleveland Cavaliers, sources said,” Shelburne wrote on March 20.<\/p>\n

Cavs owner Dan Gilbert is never shy about making big moves. If he believes that acquiring Antetokounmpo is the key to pushing Cleveland past its current hurdles and finally reaching the Eastern Conference finals, he might pressure the front office to part with Mobley. This scenario could leave the Celtics without the assets needed to land Antetokounmpo, since the Cavs would have one of the young players the Bucks have interest in.<\/p>\n

Cleveland might be contemplating a move for Antetokounmpo, but the Cavs could also find themselves in some tough discussions with Mitchell. The 29-year-old star guard has spent the past four seasons with the Cavs, yet a loss in Game 7 would deny them a chance to reach the conference finals once again, extending a disappointing trend that goes back to his five seasons with the Utah Jazz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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If Mitchell doesn\u2019t believe that Cleveland is the right place for him to win, he may not be inclined to sign a contract extension this offseason, putting the Cavs in a difficult position. He has just one year left on his current deal, plus a player option for the 2027-28 season, which could force Cleveland to consider trading Mitchell this offseason.<\/p>\n

This is where the Celtics could enter the picture. If Boston is serious about moving Brown, it might reach out to the Cavs regarding Mitchell. Cleveland would certainly want to get the best return for Mitchell, and there may not be a better player on the market besides Antetokounmpo than Brown in a potential trade.<\/p>\n

More NBA: NBA Insider Thinks Another Option Could Emerge For Jaylen Brown In Potential Giannis Antetokounmpo Deal<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How Possible Cavs Game 7 Loss To Pistons Could Affect Celtics’ Offseason Plans originally appeared on NESN. Add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,75,306,136,305,193,3846,188,864,576,123,78,6,207,9664,2484,427,971],"class_list":["post-736390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-basketball","tag-boston-celtics","tag-cavaliers","tag-cavs","tag-cleveland","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-clevelandcavaliers","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-evan-mobley","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-nba","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-ramona-shelburne","tag-the-cavaliers","tag-utah-jazz","tag-vj-edgecombe"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116587533695543162","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}