Beyond the Court: Inside the Celtic's Trade Room

In the start of summer the Celtics fans here in Boston and fans from across the world were shocked as their heart and soul of our team, Marcus Smart, was traded. On June 23rd, 2023 the once defensive player of the year, and hardest worker on the Celtics was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies. Marcus was drafted by the Celtics in 2014, and since then he left all he had out on the court for this team. He dove for every loose ball, stood tall and took every charge, and gave max effort day after day.

Let's take a look into the trade. June 23rd the Celtics were a part of a three team deal including the Memphis Grizzlies and the Washington Wizards. The Celtics traded 3 players. Smart to the Grizzlies, Mike Muscala and Danilo Gallinari to the Wizards. From the Grizzlies we got draft consideration which isn't really important, but from the Wizards we got Kristaps Porzingas which is a key player who will greatly impact our roster. Smart was a guard player, but recently we just traded for Jrue Holiday who is the same type of player as Smart. Both are around the same height and play the same position. Both are both defensively minded and can run the court and control the defense. Jrue is a former champion and higher experience level, so acquiring him in a different trade replaces the gap that trading away Marcus Smart left. We also traded away two forwards, Muscala and Gallunari. Muscala did not get much playing time last year and when he did he did not contribute much so trading him away for a better player was a great move by GM Brad Stevens. The other

big trader away was Gallinarri who we only recently acquired, and he only played with us for one season, but during this season he was injured and barely played. So we traded those two bigs for Kristaps who plays the same position as them, but is there skill level combined in one. Kristaps will immediately make an impact and especially because big man Al Horford is getting to his last few seasons when he retires Kristaps will be able and ready to fulfill Als role as the big man on the team. Honestly it is really sad to see Marcus Smart go. My first ever Celtics game I bought my first jersey, a Marcus Smart jersey. Marcus deeply loved this team and the city of Boston. Evernight when I watched games, I saw Marcus give it his all, doing anything and everything to win for our city. He wasn't the best on the team or in the league, but he was the hardest worker. But I have to be honest. For what we gave up, we improved so much. Yes we lost the heart and soul of the team, but we got a former champion guard to replace him and gave up two bigs who barely contributed to the team for a very skilled Kristaps. I am over happy for the Celtics off season and very excited to see how the new team forms together.