Getty Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics
With Marcus Smart no longer on the Boston Celtics, Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum took to Instagram to pay tribute to Smart following his trade to the Memphis Grizzlies. On his Instagram story, Tatum made a promise that the two would become teammates again someday and win a title together.
“My dawg Forever grateful for you and how you pushed me and helped me along this journey. Never change keep being you, one of a kind can never be replaced! My brotha for life! We gone link back up one day and get us one no doubt about that! Until then, Much love brodie!”
Tatum has had Smart as a teammate every season since coming to the NBA in 2017. The two as a pair have experienced plenty of success together, having made four Eastern Conference Finals and helping the Celtics reach their first NBA Finals since 2010 in 2022.
With Smart gone, the Celtics will turn more to Derrick White, Malcolm Brogdon, and Payton Pritchard to fill the void left by Smart unless they make any more moves.
Celtics May Not Be Able to Trade Malcolm Brogdon
Before the Celtics traded Smart, the initial reported deal by The Athletic’s Shams Charania was a three-way trade between the Celtics, Washington Wizards, and Los Angeles Clippers, in which the Celtics were going to send Brogdon instead.
After ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the deal had fallen through, NBA Insider Marc Stein revealed that the Clippers were scared off by Brogdon’s injury status.
“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,” Stein wrote via his personal Twitter.
On ESPN”s Get Up, Brian Windhorst said that Brogdon’s injury status is so bad that the Celtics may not be able to trade him.
“Brogdon has a health issue, a health issue that, as I understand, is so significant that not only can the Celtics not do this trade, there’s probably no Malcolm Brogdon trade that they can do in the short term,” Windhorst said.
Celtics Expected to Make More Moves
Heavy Sports’ Steve Bulpett reported that the Celtics shouldn’t be judged on their most recent trade because they are expected to make more trades.
“As much as we feel a need to make assessments in the wake of the Marcus Smart/Kristaps Porzingis/and-don’t-forget-the-draft-picks trade, there is the strong belief around the NBA that Brad Stevens isn’t done reshaping the roster. Further deals could render some of these points moot,” Bulpett wrote.
There have been no other reports about the Celtics trading any of the players on their current roster since acquiring Porzingis, but with the draft done, so many changes could very well be coming as the offseason progresses.
Bulpett acknowledged that the trade can’t be graded until the Celtics finish making roster moves, but added that he believes the Celtics made out well in the trade.
“Getting to the bottom line early, in terms of cold, hard, on-paper facts, the Celtics came out ahead on this trade,” Bulpett wrote. “But the truth is the deal can’t be properly judged for Boston until it’s seen how many games Porzingis can play and what effect Smart’s loss has on the Celts’ identity. The latter component wasn’t enough to keep the club from self-inflicted eliminations, but we’ll see how the C’s run without his fuel.”
