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The Boston Celtics had no choice but to part ways with Marcus Smart last night.
They tried to avoid it by moving on from Malcolm Brogdon instead, but the deal eventually fell off.
According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, Brogdon has a health issue that made the Los Angeles Clippers back off from the deal altogether, and it could be so significant that the Celtics might not be able to move him or play him for the foreseeable future.
.@WindhorstESPN breaks down the trade details of the Celtics acquiring Kristaps Porzingis pic.twitter.com/YyySNEfm2q
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) June 22, 2023
Windhorst also explains that the Celtics had no choice but to try and get the deal done yesterday, as Kristaps Porzingis had until midnight to opt-in on the final year of his contract.
Otherwise, he would’ve just become an unrestricted free agent, thus killing any chance of getting a deal done.
Ironically, losing Smart actually made things a little better for the Celtics.
They got a much better deal in return, including a couple of first-round picks.
As for the Grizzlies, they’ll now have the hard-nosed veteran they’ve been craving for years now, someone who won’t hesitate to hold everybody accountable and make sure every single one of the players in that locker room stays locked in.
It’ll be hard for Celtics fans to watch Smart go after spending his entire career with the organization.
But this is a ruthless business that spares no victims, and it was time the Celtics tried something different to finally fulfill their true potential around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, even if that meant parting ways with their defensive specialist.
The post Brian Windhorst Says Malcolm Brogdon Has A Health Issue That Prevented Trade appeared first on The Cold Wire.