Celtics’ fan favorite and a player at the heart of the team — Marcus Smart — is headed to the Memphis Grizzlies in a trade that brings Kristaps Porzingis to Boston.
Earlier in the day, the Celtics were close to a less-painful trade to get Porzingis that sent Malcolm Brogdon to the Clippers, but Los Angeles was scared off by Brogdon’s medicals. He played 67 games this season but that was the most since his rookie year, and he had a partially torn elbow ligament during the Eastern Conference Finals that may require surgery. It was all enough for the Clippers to get cold feet.
In stepped the Grizzlies, a story broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Washington is completing a three-way deal with Boston and Memphis that will send guard Tyus Jones to the Wizards, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/tQgoW60nQz
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 22, 2023
The Celtics are trading Marcus Smart to the Grizzlies as part of deal, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 22, 2023
Here is how the trade shakes out:
Boston receives: Kristaps Porzingis, Grizzlies’ No. 25 pick this season, Warriors’ 2024 first-round pick (top four protected)
Memphis receives: Marcus Smart
Washington receives: Tyus Jones, Danilo Gallinari, Mike Muscala, Celtics’ No. 35 pick
This is a risky play for Brad Stevens and the Celtics on several key fronts, but if it pays off it could be the piece they were looking for to take the next step.
First, trading Smart could be a culture changer in Boston — for nine seasons he has been the heart and soul of the team. He is a fan favorite. He is a hustling, physical defensive player who provides a little scoring (11.5 points a game last season) and a little secondary playmaking.
Smart embodies hustling on every play, sacrificing his body to get the job done. Porzingis... doesn’t exactly have that reputation.
Without Smart, Stevens has bet that Malcolm Brogdon — the reigning Sixth Man of the Year — and Derrick White can be as good or better than they were last season. The Celtics were overloaded with players in the backcourt and needed to make a change, it just wasn’t expected to be Smart. Boston can still roll out a rotation of White and Jalen Brown to start, with Brogdon and Payton Pritchard off the bench. That’s good. The Celtics’ big bet is Brogdon can stay healthy (the Clippers weren’t willing to bet that he could).
Finally, the Celtics are making a big bet on Porzingis, who opted into his $36 million for next season to make the trade work and now will talk extension with Boston. Considering Al Horford is age 37 and about to enter his 17th NBA season, and with Robert Williams III battling injuries and playing just 35 games last season (following a history of knee issues), Boston needed frontline depth this summer. If they get the Porzingis who just had the best season of his career — 23.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game, playing at an All-Star level on both ends of the court — this absolutely helps the Celtics. They could get back to more of the two bigs lineup that helped them reach the Finals, and they could play more drop coverage (something Boston experimented with last season). But KP has to be on the court for all that to happen.
This trade is a win for the other two teams.
Memphis now has the last two Defensive Player of the Year winners in Smart and Jaren Jackson Jr. They also now have the culture-setting leader, the guy focused on winning and not tolerant of distractions, that the locker room needed.
Washington continues its rebuilding process by getting off the massive contract of Porzingis, getting a nice second-round pick, and landing good players in Jones and Galinari (and maybe Muscala) who can be flipped into picks and young players. Still, the Wizards have now sent out both Bradley Beal and Porzingis and have yet to land a first-round pick in return. That is a concern.
