Report: Teams inquiring about Celtics' Bass

The NBA's trade season hasn't kicked into high gear yet, but expect Brandon Bass' name to be involved when it does.

According to the Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett, "scouts and opposing front-office types have begun to speak and inquire about the 29-year-old forward."

Bass, who is averaging 8.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists for the 4-8 Celtics, is in the final year of a contract that pays him $6.9 million this season.

Grantland's Zach Lowe reported in August that Boston had "tried like hell" to trade Bass.

While there's nothing preventing Bass from being traded now, the NBA usually sees increased trade activity after Dec. 15, which is the date players who were acquired in the offseason can be moved by their new teams.

Bass isn't a three-point shooting big man, but he can still space the floor. Nearly 35 percent of his field goal attempts have come in the usually dreaded long-two zone so far this season, between 16 feet and the three-point line, according to Basketball Reference. And Bass is shooting an insane 56 percent from that range. That's surely to regress to the mean, but his career 45 percent conversion rate on 16-plus-foot two-pointers suggests he'll still be effective from there.

Bass isn't a good rebounder or a particularly good defender, but there's always a market for big men with some degree of range. The expiring contract also doesn't hurt.

“If there’s a team competing for a championship and they could steal him, that’d be big," teammate Rajon Rondo told Bulpett.