Celtics Right to Trade for Porziņģis Over Jordan Poole for NBA Title Push Amid Rumors

Boston may have acquired center Kristaps Porziņģis as part of a three-way deal that also involved guards Marcus Smart and Tyus Jones but as Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reported, the Celtics had previously had their eye on another player: Golden State's Jordan Poole.

"There were also conversations between Golden State and Boston, sources said, about sending Poole to the Celtics, before Boston went forward and traded Marcus Smart in the three-team trade with the Grizzlies that brought Kristaps Porziņģis to the TD Garden."

Despite initial thoughts and preferences, the Celtics made the right call by acquiring the big man from Washington.

The Celtics have veteran Al Horford at center and he brings experience to the locker room. Guard Malcolm Brogdon credited him with tightening up an otherwise loose practice during the postseason and spoke about his leadership on the whole to Steve Hewitt of The Boston Herald.

Porziņģis is an upgrade at the position, especially for a Celtics team that is chasing an NBA Championship and came up short in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Horford has seen his average points diminish over the last two seasons and saw decreases in offensive and defensive rebounds in 2022-23. He did shoot better from beyond the arc than Porziņģis ever has, but he is still slightly worse from the field than the newcomer.

The Latvian-born player is an upgrade at the position and will give the Celtics a force on the boards. There is no word on the future of Horford with Boston but if the two sides can figure out a way to ensure the continuation of their relationship, the team gets a veteran big man coming off the bench and retains the leadership in the locker room, which appears to be as big a part of Horford's contributions to the team as any stat.

Is there a hole on the roster where Marcus Smart used to be? Sure. Would Jordan Poole have helped fill it? Possibly, especially considering his average point totals were nearly double what Smart accomplished last year.

The team was clearly missing a presence on the boards who could get 20 and take some of the pressure to score off Jason Tatum. Whether the experiment proves successful remains to be seen but for now, Porziņģis was a better acquisition for this Celtics team than another guard would have been.