As Painful As It Would Be, The Boston Celtics Now Have To Consider Moving Marcus Smart

If there’s a basketball truism around New England, it’s that Marcus Smart brings more to the Boston Celtics than what his stats indicate. He’s been a crucial part of what the Celtics have built since they drafted him in 2014: he’s the team’s longest-tenured player and emotional core. And yet, come the NBA trade deadline in February, Smart might be wearing a different team’s jersey.

It’s not that Smart has done anything wrong. On the contrary, the truth is that—of the players that Boston seems willing to part with—he might just be the most valuable chip they have. At this moment, the Celtics have no plan to split up Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and reports have it that their strong preference is to keep rapidly developing young center Robert Williams.

That leaves Smart as the most valuable high-profile player they could send to another team, at least for now. The Celtics had to wait until January 25 before they could start pursuing deals after signing Smart to a four-year, $77 million contract in the offseason. That contract, oddly enough, made it more likely to be traded for a big (or at least biggish) name rather than less, as the NBA’s convoluted salary cap rules require matching salaries.

MORE FROM FORBESThe Boston Celtics Can’t Trade Marcus Smart Yet, But It’s No Longer UnthinkableBy Hunter Felt

What would they be interested in? There are two glaring needs for this team. Smart is not a pure point guard and neither is backup Dennis Schröder, an impending free agent who the team is desperate to trade for maybe literally anything. However, given the Celtics’ season-long scoring struggles—particularly from the three-point line—it might make more sense to dangle Smart out there and see what sort of shooting they could get back from him.

In fact, the Celtics have apparently already sniffed around as far as making a deal involving Smart. Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer reported recently that the Celtics explored a potential trade with the Atlanta Hawks for Cam Reddish and Kevin Heurter that went nowhere. The Hawks eventually sent Reddish to the New York Knicks instead.

Now, the Celtics simply are a better team when Smart is available to play. The team’s blowout wins over the Washington Wizards and the Sacramento Kings, the first two games Smart played after a lengthy absence, were partly a team doing what it is supposed to do: blowing out inferior teams on their home court. What made it encouraging was that… well, they hadn’t been doing that as much of late.

Still, this team has clearly regressed and is in desperate need of a shakeup: the status quo simply is no longer working. Last night’s 108-92 road loss to the Hawks was a perfect example: the Celtics cut the Hawks’ lead down to a single point only for an extended offensive slump to turn it from a nailbiter into a comfortable Hawks victory within mere minutes. They went 35% from the field and a brutal 19% from beyond the three-point line.

Some of the Celtics’ sins lie at the feet of the players. Some of it can be attributed to the fact that first-time head coach Ime Udoka, who continues to make questionable in-game decisions, is learning on the job in a very unforgiving media market. Still, some of it is most certainly on the roster: the Celtics can’t simply keep running out the same players and hoping for different results.

The Celtics’ record is now 25-25 which feels exactly right: this is a .500 team and has been for quite a while. It’s quite clear, at this point, that the long-term solution to the team’s problems, assuming that it does exist, is going to have to come from outside the organization.

Brad Stevens, the team’s rookie president of basketball operations shouldn’t trade Smart simply for the sake of making a deadline deal. Knowing how much Stevens came to love and trust him during his tenure as head coach, he most likely values the guard far too much to do such a thing. However, if the right player becomes available, the Celtics now seem more willing than ever to make a difficult sacrifice.