BOSTON – The Boston Celtics announced today that they have completed a three-team trade with the Brooklyn Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics have acquired center Tyler Zeller and a future first-round draft pick from the Cavaliers and guard Marcus Thornton from the Nets. The Nets have acquired Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev while the Cavaliers have acquired a future conditional second round pick from the Celtics and the draft rights to Ilkan Karaman and Edin Bavcic from Brooklyn.
Zeller, a 7’0” center, appeared in 70 games for the Cavaliers last season where he averaged 5.7 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 53.8 percent from the field in 15.0 minutes per game. In his nine games as a starter Zeller averaged 9.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 21.6 minutes per game. The product of the University of North Carolina was originally selected with the 17th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks before being traded to the Cavaliers on draft night. Zeller recorded a career-high 23 points to go along with six rebounds against the Houston Rockets on March 22 this season. He pulled down a career-high of 15 rebounds against Philadelphia to go along with 18 points in just 25 minutes on February 18. During his rookie season (2012-13) Zeller averaged 7.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 26.3 minutes per game and was named to the NBA’s All-Rookie Second Team while also participating in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend.
Thornton, a 6’4” guard, split last season between the Brooklyn Nets and the Sacramento Kings where he averaged 9.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 24.1 minutes per game. After being acquired by the Nets on February 19 he appeared in 26 games for Brooklyn and spiked his scoring average to 12.3 points while also averaging 2.8 rebounds per game. In those 26 games Thornton recorded double-figures in scoring 14 times and reached 20 or more points six times. Earlier in the season with Sacramento Thornton matched his career-high with a 42 point outburst against Indiana on January 24 when he made seven three-pointers. Thornton has appeared in 341 career games between Brooklyn, Sacramento and New Orleans and has career averages of 13.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.