The NBA trade deadline has officially past and unlike the past few years, a lot of teams around the league didn’t hesitate on making moves to either set up their future or make a push for the playoffs in the second half of the NBA regular season. The one move that really surprised everyone on Thurs. Feb. 24 was the Boston Celtics trading their center and core of the defense in Kendrick Perkins.

Ironically enough, during the 2010 NBA Finals against the arch rival Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics had to finish their run at an NBA title without arguably one of their best defensive players in Perkins. Many people believe that the reason that the Celtics could get the best of their rivals was due to this fact, but rehab went well for the center as he made a somewhat quick recovery from an injury that could have kept him out all of this season.

In an interesting twist by Boston, Celtics GM Danny Ainge decided to trade his long-time center to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Not only did Ainge send Perkins packing, but he also traded backup point guard and two-time Slam Dunk champion Nate Robinson to Oklahoma City.

In return, the Boston Celtics have received forwards Jeff Green and Nenad Kristic from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In my opinion, this drastically changes the Boston Celtics’ ability to contend with the likes of the big teams in the league like the Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs and most importantly the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.

Despite this move seeming strange as the Boston Celtics are the top team in the Eastern Conference right now with a legitimate shot to contend for another NBA title, I get the feeling that Danny Ainge has something up his sleeve and will make some kind of move in the next couple of weeks.

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