
NBA Rumors: Celtics 'Far from Done' After Kristaps Porziņģis, Marcus Smart Trade
The Kristaps Porziņģis trade might be the tip of the iceberg for roster moves made by the Boston Celtics this offseason.
Per Brian Robb of MassLive.com, the Celtics are "far from done" making deals.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported late Wednesday night the Celtics, Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies executed a three-team trade sending Porziņģis to Boston, Marcus Smart, Danilio Gallinari and Mike Muscala to Memphis, and Tyus Jones to Washington.
The Celtics are also getting the Grizzlies' first-round pick in the 2023 NBA draft (No. 25 overall) and the Golden State Warriors' top-four protected pick in 2024 in the deal.
The most obvious trade candidate still on Boston's roster is Malcolm Brogdon. He was reportedly involved in an earlier version of a three-team trade between the Celtics, Wizards and Los Angeles Clippers that fell apart.
Brogdon is owed $22.5 million in each of the next two seasons. They own all of their first-round draft picks starting in 2024 to include in any potential trades.
Payton Pritchard's status with the organization also seems to be up in the air right now. The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor noted in a recent mock draft (h/t Souichi Terada of MassLive.com) the Celtics "explored" trades with Pritchard and the No. 35 pick to get into the first round.
Pritchard said on The Point Forward podcast (h/t Bobby Manning of CelticsBlog.com) in January he would like a bigger role on the team.
Since the 35th pick was included in the Smart-Porziņģis trade, it seems Boston may have decided to roll with Pritchard next season. He's the No. 2 point guard on the roster right now, behind Derrick White.
Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe reported on Monday the Celtics "remain high on Pritchard, and there is no tension between him and the organization."
The addition of Porziņģis could boost Boston's offensive potential, but it does leave the team more vulnerable when it comes to health and availability. Smart has played at least 60 games in seven of his nine seasons.
Porziņģis played a career-high 65 games last season, but has only cracked the 60-game barrier three times in eight NBA seasons.
The Celtics had an inconsistent postseason run starting with a six-game series against the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. They had to overcome a 3-2 deficit against the Philadelphia 76ers to win in seven games, and fell behind 3-0 to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals before storming back to force a Game 7.
In the decisive Game 7 on their home court, the Celtics lost 103-84 and shot 39.0 percent from the field.





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