Winners and Losers from Boston Celtics' 3-Team Kristaps Porziņģis Trade

The Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies took some big swings the day before the 2023 NBA draft, agreeing to a three-team trade that will send Kristaps Porziņģis to Boston and Marcus Smart to Memphis.

ESPN's Tim Bontemps broke down the deal with the help of reporting from colleague Adrian Wojnarowski.

"The Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies agreed to a three-team trade late Wednesday night that sends center Kristaps Porziņģis to the Celtics, guard Marcus Smart to the Grizzlies and guard Tyus Jones to the Wizards," Bontemps wrote.

"As part of the deal, Memphis is sending Boston its first-round pick in Thursday's draft—the 25th overall selection—and the Golden State Warriors' top-four-protected first-round pick in 2024, sources said, while the Celtics are sending the 35th pick in Thursday's draft to Washington. The Celtics are also sending forward Danilo Gallinari and center Mike Muscala to Washington as part of the deal, sources said."

There's obviously a lot going on there. And now that the dust has settled, let's check out the winners and losers from the deal.

Winner: Boston Celtics

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Kristaps Porziņģis

If we were to declare an individual outright winner of this deal, it would be the Celtics in an absolute landslide.

Last season, Porziņģis put up career highs in points per games (23.2), assists per game (2.7), effective field-goal percentage (56.5) and box plus/minus (4.3).

Catch-all metrics from around the internet pegged him as a top-20 player in 2022-23, significantly higher than Jaylen Brown.

And KP's ability to space the floor from well beyond the three-point line will open up a ton of room in the paint and driving lanes for Brown and Jayson Tatum.

His fit alongside those two is easy to imagine.

And though the loss of Smart may be tough for some Celtics fans from a sentimental standpoint (he's been there for all nine of his NBA seasons), his on-court value probably isn't close to Porziņģis' at this point. They also kept Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon, who both had better seasons than Smart in 2022-23.

What really puts this trade over the top for Boston, though, is the picks the C's got.

The Celtics acquired the best player in this trade and somehow talked Memphis into sending the No. 25 pick in this year's draft and a top-four protected first in 2024. That's wild.

Sure, there are some health concerns for Porziņģis. The 65 games he played in 2022-23 represented his highest total since 2016-17. And Smart has been a big part of Boston's culture for nearly a decade.

But from a talent standpoint, the Celtics are unequivocal winners.

Loser: Memphis Grizzlies

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Marcus Smart

This is a huge bet on Smart's ability to be a leader and establish a culture for a Grizzlies team in dire need of a new one.

From that standpoint alone, the trade makes some sense for Memphis. From just about any other standpoint, it's a head-scratcher.

First off, Tyus Jones is two years younger than Smart. And over the last three seasons, Jones' 1.4 box plus-minus (77th in the NBA over that span) is significantly higher than Smart's minus-0.2 (170th).

That number, of course, isn't the beginning and end of the debate over those two, but it's in part a result of Jones being a better shooter and ball-handler (Jones is annually among the league leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio).

There's at least an argument (and it's not all that difficult to make) that Jones is better (and a better asset) than Smart. Losing him and a pair of first-round picks is difficult to wrap your head around.

Winner: Washington Wizards

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Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porziņģis

In the last week, the Wizards have turned Bradley Beal and Porziņģis into Chris Paul (who might be traded elsewhere for more value), Landry Shamet, six second-round picks from the Phoenix Suns, pick swaps, Tyus Jones, Danilo Gallinari, Mike Muscala and another second-rounder from Boston.

That might not sound like a massive haul for the team's two best players, but it kind of is when you consider the circumstances.

Any potential Beal trade was doomed last summer, when the Wizards gave him the league's only no-trade clause. At that moment, he assumed the ability to dictate where he'd go if he ever asked out. That Washington was able to secure any sort of value was a win. And if someone now gives them real consideration for CP3, that package will improve.

As for Porziņģis, the loss of Beal would've made it easy for him to justify declining his player option and entering free agency. In that scenario, the Wizards would've lost him for nothing. Instead, they get the game's best backup point guard in Jones (another player they can potentially flip in a trade), a high second-rounder and more salary filler that could be used in other deals. That's far better than the alternative.

Michael Winger, Washington's new president, inherited one of the worst roster and cap situations in the NBA, and he's doing exactly what should've been done years ago.

This team needed to be torn down to the studs. And even if he can't get as much for that teardown as the Wizards may have been able to get a few years ago, Winger is still headed in the right direction.

Loser (for Now): Los Angeles Clippers

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Malcolm Brogdon

Earlier in the day, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported on a potential deal that would've featured the Los Angeles Clippers as the third team in this trade rather than the Grizzlies.

And in that scenario, Malcolm Brogdon would've headed to the Clippers.

Shortly before the Celtics-Wizards-Grizzlies three-teamer became official, Wojnarowski tweeted that the Brogdon version of the trade had "fallen apart."

Longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein attributed that to L.A.'s concerns over Brogdon's injury status (which is kind of alarming, given that it already rosters Kawhi Leonard and Paul George).

Brogdon has averaged fewer than 60 appearances per season during his career, and he may continue to struggle to stay on the floor over the last two seasons of this contract. In that case, the Clippers walking away from this deal will look like the right move in hindsight.

But replacing Marcus Morris Sr. (who would've gone to Washington in the earlier framework) with Brogdon would've been a huge talent and fit upgrade for L.A.

The Clippers need a point guard, and the 2022-23 Sixth Man of the Year averaged 18.9 points and 6.3 assists during his three seasons with the Indiana Pacers. And his 38.8 career three-point percentage would've commanded attention from opposing defenses and given Kawhi and PG more room to operate inside the arc.

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Statistics via Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.