With the Boston Celtics in need of help to live up to the lofty preseason expectations, some eyes have turned to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have a former Celtics big on the roster who is presumably open for dealing.

Because of Boston’s payroll situation, the Celtics Wire isn’t 100% sold on the idea of Boston adding Al Horford, but there is a way for it to work that would help the team now without impairing them financially in the future.

The main issue, writes analyst Justin Quinn, is that a trade could throw Boston into the repeater tax and force them to part ways with players like Marcus Smart and Robert Williams III.

There is at least one deal that works, though. Quinn proposed:

Thunder receive: Tristan Thompson, Daniel Theis, Jeff Teague, cash considerations, Gordon Hayward trade exception

Celtics receive: Horford

Quinn also threw out the idea of replacing Teague with Carsen Edwards, which seems like something Oklahoma City would like more.

“(The Celtics would) slide in at $2.47 million under the tax, with the wiggle room and roster space to sign a minimum player with under 10 years of experience.”

So it would work for Boston. Would Oklahoma City do it?

Theis is a very good player, but he turns 29 in April and only has one year left on his contract. He would be unlikely to wear a Thunder jersey next season.

Teague would likely be waived or relegated to the back of the bench. Edwards, at 22 years old, has two more years on his contract, but given as Oklahoma City just traded away Hamidou Diallo, it seems they are settling in on their future guards and would be unlikely they would want to add another guard project.

Thompson is still a good player who could probably fetch a second-round pick this offseason entering the final year of his contract.

So this move would be more of a salary dump for Oklahoma City. The Thunder would get off the final 2.5 years of Horford’s big contract, create more playing time for young bigs like Isaiah Roby, Aleksej Pokusevski and Moses Brown, and, to be frank, be in better position to tank.

Value-wise, though, it’s not a good return for the Thunder. This type of trade would depend on their intentions, and they’d likely request more draft capital for the deal to go through.