Boston Celtics Finally Make Major Shakeup To Roster, Acquire Kristaps Porzingis In 3-Team Trade

The Boston Celtics are finally breaking up their nucleus.

Following a sixth straight season where the Celtics came up short of winning a title in the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown-Marcus
MCS
Smart era, Boston is shaking it up. As reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Celtics are acquiring Kristaps Porzingis from the Washington Wizards while sending Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies.

In addition to acquiring Porzingis and flipping Smart, the Celtics also receive 2023 and 2024 first-round picks from the Grizzlies. Boston is also shipping off Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala to the Wizards. Meanwhile, Washington receives the Celtics’ 2023 second-round pick in addition to guard Tyus Jones from the Grizzlies.

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After coming up a game short of an NBA Finals appearance, it’s clear some sort of change was needed. I touched upon this shortly after the Celtics’ Game 7 loss to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. However, instead of Boston moving on from Jaylen Brown, they’ll instead move on from Smart, who had emerged as the “Draymond Green” of the Celtics in recent years, even winning Defensive Player of the Year during the 2021-22 season.

As good of a defensive player as Smart was, the Celtics’ offense had reached a ceiling. Boston became too heavily reliant upon three-point shooting — their over-reliance on the shot was their downfall against the Heat — due to their lack of offensive presence inside the paint and the lack of versatility amongst their scorers. In fact, they ranked 23rd in points in the paint and 27th in mid-range attempts per game last season.

Bringing in the 7-foot-3 Porzingis should change that. The former All-Star big man is coming off of a career year, averaging 23.2 points per game on 49.8% from the field. Furthermore, he also remained healthy for the most part, appearing in 65 games. That was his most appearances in a single season since his second year with the New York Knicks, when he played in 66 games during the 2016-17 season.

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Durability is always going to be a concern for Porzingis, who is the second-tallest player in the NBA. In fact, prior to last season, Porzingis hadn’t appeared in at least 58 games in a single year since 2017.

With that being said, when he’s on the court, he’s a force to be reckoned with. And for the first time in the Tatum-Brown era, the Celtics will have a true scoring presence inside the paint.

The original trade deal called for Malcolm Brogdon to be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. However, the Clippers backed out of the trade due to concerns about Malcolm Brogdon’s injury status, as noted by NBA insider Marc Stein. That led to the Celtics and Wizards finding another third partner — the Grizzlies — in order to complete the trade for Porzingis.

Instead, it’ll be Smart — not Brogdon — who departs the Celtics.

“Concerns raised by the Clippers about Malcolm Brogdon’s injury status, league sources say, led to the collapse of the three-team trade expected to send Kristaps Porzingis to Boston before midnight tonight,” writes Stein.

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The 30-year-old Brogdon — who is coming off of a Sixth Man of the Year award campaign — suffered a tendon injury in his right arm during the postseason and sparsely played during the final games of the Celtics’ postseason run. In fact, he scored just two points in his final four games.

As reported by The Athletic’s Jared Weiss, Brogdon is “optimistic” he won’t need offseason surgery.

Brogdon’s injury forced the Celtics to instead include Smart, who had spent all nine years of his career in Boston.

The Porzingis trade certainly gives the Celtics an added dimension. However, they’re still lacking a true general at point guard. Boston could still fill that void by using their $5 million taxpayer mid-level exception.

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With Smart now out of the equation, the Celtics will enter the 2023-24 season with a starting five consisting of Porzingis, Tatum, Brown, Derrick White and Robert Williams III as the likely other big man.

On paper, the Celtics look like the team to beat in the Eastern Conference on paper — assuming Porzingis is healthy.

If Porzingis misses an extended period of time, Boston could be in trouble, especially if they fail to re-sign big man Grant Williams. They would be forced to rely on a big man duo of Horford — who is 37 years old— and Williams III, who has dealt with his own injury issues in recent years.

With that being said, the Celtics needed to make a change if they hope to hang an 18th championship banner. Acquiring Porzingis and trading Smart — the team’s longest-tenured player — is their way of rolling the dice.

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