Celtics to acquire Kristaps Porzingis in 3-team deal sending Marcus Smart to Memphis
Up against a midnight ET deadline for Kristaps Porzingis to decide on his $36M player option, the Celtics agreed to acquire Porzingis in a three-team deal that will send Marcus Smart to Grizzlies and Tyus Jones to the Wizards.
The Celtics will also acquire the Grizzlies’ No. 25 pick in Thursday’s draft and a 2024 top-four protected Warriors pick from Memphis while Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala will head to Washington.
There’s a reason Porzingis is nicknamed “The Unicorn”
Porzingis is the only player in NBA history to average two 3-pointers and 1.5 blocks in multiple seasons. He did this in 2019-20 and 2022-23.
Porzingis is one of four players to record 100 3-pointers and 100 blocks in a season at least three times, along with Brook Lopez, Rasheed Wallace and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Porzingis was one of three players to average 20 points and 1.5 blocks in 2022-23, along with Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid.
Porzingis was one of three players to record 100 3-pointers and 100 blocks this past season, along with Brook Lopez and Jaren Jackson Jr.
Pick and Pop!
This past season, the Celtics ranked 3rd in pick-and-pop plays ran which is perfect for Porzingis. In 2022-23, Porzingis was the screener for 484 pick-and-pop plays, the 4th-most of any player per Second Spectrum.
348 of these plays led directly to an action, 2nd-most in the NBA, trailing only Nikola Vucevic. He also averaged 1.20 points per direct play on these actions, which ranked in the top 5 among 74 players to run 150+ plays.
The Marcus “Wicked” Smaaaht Factor
Most of you know, I have been a pretty big Marcus Smart supporter. He’s a hockey player that plays basketball. He’s been the heart and soul of the Celtics team for a few years now. People either seem to love him or hate him. However, when you look at the overall package, this guy is a damn good basketball player and will be missed. You can’t pay everyone so unfortunately they had to make this deal. Earlier on Wednesday there was a 3 way deal that fell apart with the Clippers that would have sent Malcolm Brogden to LA.
The Grizzlies ranked third in defensive efficiency last season behind only the Cavaliers and Celtics, and now will boast a lineup with the last two Defensive Players of the Year in 2022-23 winner Jaren Jackson Jr. and 2021-22 winner Marcus Smart. If that comes to fruition, Jackson Jr. and Smart would be the first set of players to play on the same team after having won DPOY the previous two seasons.
Smart will bring playoff experience to Memphis. He is one of five players to play at least one playoff game in each of the last nine postseasons, along with Chris Paul, James Harden, Jae Crowder and Danny Green. He will also be a good mentor, I believe, for Ja Morant.
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