The Boston Celtics traded a piece of their history on Wednesday.
Trading guard Marcus Smart wasn't just dealing a player who won Defensive Player of the Year, or been with the franchise for nine years. Smart was consistently looked to as the heart and soul of the team.
But ultimately, after flaming out in the NBA Finals in 2022 and then Conference finals this season, the Celtics clearly felt like they had to shake things up. Hence, they agreed in principle to send Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for two draft picks (one that they traded down with about 800 times Thursday, the other a Warriors 2024 pick) and Kristaps Porzingis from the Wizards.
The Celtics added a frontcourt offensive weapon who is also elite defensively if he's healthy. (That's a big if, though he did play 65 games last season.) Porzingis had arguably the best season of his career for the Wizards in 2023, and if you think that sounds inherently bad, bear in mind that the Wizards, who had a point differential of -6.3, had a point differential of +1.4 with Porzingis on the floor.