The Golden State Warriors have unloaded David Lee in the final year of his contract. Lee has been sent to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Gerald Wallace, according to Tommy Dee and Marc Stein of ESPN. Lee is set to make $15.5 million next season.
Lee lost his starting job to Draymond Green after suffering a hamstring injury in the last game of the preseason. The Warriors excelled with Green entrenched at power forward, and Lee was used in a limited role for the rest of the year as the Warriors went on to win the NBA championship. The Celtics are hoping Lee can rediscover what made him an All-Star as recently as 2013.
The Celtics always made sense as a trade partner for Lee. Lee is still a skilled scorer in the front court, and a much more useful player than Wallace. The Warriors can now use the stretch provision on Wallace to ease the final year of his salary, which they couldn't have done with Lee. The Warriors potentially saved a lot of money with this trade.
Lee averaged 18.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game on 52.3-percent shooting in the 2013-14 season, but his numbers slipped to career-low levels across the board in a diminished role this season. Lee did see some playing time in the NBA Finals against the Cavaliers, and performed well, scoring 11 points in Game 3 and nine points in Game 4.