Celtics Trade Rumors: Noah Vonleh Dealt to Spurs; SAS to Waive Vonleh, Gorgui Dieng

Paul KasabianFeatured Columnist IIJanuary 5, 2023

Boston Celtics' Noah Vonleh (4) grabs a rebound in front of Orlando Magic's Cole Anthony (50) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

AP Photo/John Raoux

The Boston Celtics are trading forward Noah Vonleh and cash considerations to the San Antonio Spurs, per Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic.

The Spurs are waiving center Gorgui Dieng to make room for Vonleh. However, the Spurs then plan to waive Vonleh as well, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Brian Robb of MassLive and Jay King of The Athletic provided more context on the deal from Boston's perspective.

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
Can confirm <a href="https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ShamsCharania</a> report that Celtics are trading Noah Vonleh to Spurs with cash per league source. Vonleh's contract was set to guarantee for year this weekend. Team opens up a roster spot for potential trade and buyout market and saves on luxury tax in meantime.

Jay King @ByJayKing
The trigger date for Noah Vonleh's contract to become fully guaranteed is in a couple of days. He opened the season in the Celtics rotation but fell out pretty quickly. With Robert Williams back, Celtics have even less of a need for another big.

Ty Jäger of Pounding the Rock added more detail:

Ty Jäger @TheTyJager
With the trade, the Spurs are reportedly waiving both Gorgui Dieng & Noah Vonleh Dieng was on a 1-year vet-minimum Vonleh was on a 1-year non-guaranteed vet-minimum A total of $3,672,190 is being moved. Opens a roster spot for both Boston & San Antonio.

Keith Smith of Celtics Blog and ESPN's Bobby Marks gave more information from a salary-cap perspective.

Keith Smith @KeithSmithNBA
Spurs are roughly $16M under the salary floor. That's why they can do this trade-and-waive for Noah Vonleh without any real worry. Presumably Boston is sending enough cash to cover San Antonio's actual outlay here.

Bobby Marks @BobbyMarks42
The Noah Vonleh contract was set to become guaranteed on Saturday Jan. 7. The move opens up a roster spot and saves Boston $7.15M toward the luxury tax. Cap space in San Antonio: $27.1M

Vonleh played in 23 games (one start) for the Celtics this year, averaging 7.4 minutes per game. The 6'10" Massachusetts native has posted 4.7 points and 4.9 rebounds over eight NBA campaigns.

Dieng has played in 13 games (one start) for the Spurs, posting 11.6 minutes per game. The 6'10" center has averaged 7.4 points and 5.7 rebounds over a 10-year career.

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