The Celtics exchange Marcus Smart for Porzingis.
According to two sources with knowledge of the arrangement, the Washington Wizards have agreed to sell center Kristaps Porzingis to the Boston Celtics as part of a three-team trade that also includes Marcus Smart going to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Because the deals had not been made public, the people spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Associated Press. Porzingis agreed to the move after exercising his player option for next season.
The Grizzlies will also receive Smart, the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year, from Boston in exchange for first-round draft selections in 2023 and 2024. According to ESPN, the Wizards are also getting guard Tyus Jones from Memphis, forwards Mike Muscala and Danilo Gallinari from Boston, and a second-round selection this year.
After losing in seven games to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics sign 7-foot-3 Porzingis. Porzingis is coming off a strong season in Washington, when he averaged a career-high 23.2 points per game and 8.4 rebounds per game. Most significantly, he was able to stay healthy enough to participate in 66 games, his most since 2016-17 with the New York Knicks.
After the Wizards decided to trade Bradley Beal to Phoenix and Kyle Kuzma declined his option, Porzingis’ departure completes a rapid fracture of Washington’s core. Washington has been out of the playoffs for the past two seasons and is clearly in rebuilding mode under new team president Michael Winger.
Smart has spent his entire NBA career in Boston, where he was the team’s longest-tenured player and one of its most powerful locker room presences. He is also fourth on the franchise’s career 3-pointer (911) and assist (2,700) charts. His departure leaves Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon, the Celtics’ reigning Sixth Man of the Year, as the top two possibilities to replace Smart.
Smart offers much-needed experience to a young Memphis club that desperately needs point guard help after Ja Morant’s 25-game ban was announced for next season. Smart also provides playoffs experience to the Grizzlies, who have only won one playoff series in the last two seasons despite placing second in the West.
Despite the brilliant combo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics were unable to return to the NBA Finals in 2022.
Porzingis joins the Boston Celtics, his fourth NBA squad. He was drafted fourth overall by New York in 2015 and spent three seasons with the Knicks before being sold to Dallas before the trade deadline in 2019 – while recovering from knee surgery. He was acquired by the Wizards from the Dallas Mavericks 16 months ago.
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