The Celtics made one of the most surprising trades of the 2023 NBA offseason on Wednesday when the team sent Marcus Smart to the Grizzlies as part of a three-team deal.
The move netted the Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis, a former All-Star who spent the 2022-23 season with the Wizards. He is expected to be a key part of the team's rotation and could emerge as the team's heir apparent to Al Horford.
Still, the move caught many off-guard, as few expected that Smart would be traded by the Celtics. After all, he was the team's longest-tenured player and had won the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award for his performance during the 2021-22 season.
MORE: Full details of the Celtics' surprising Marcus Smart trade
So, why did the Celtics move on from Smart? Here's what we know about Boston's surprising start to the 2023 NBA offseason.
Why did the Celtics trade Marcus Smart?
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens explained that Boston was looking to accomplish one major goal during the 2023 offseason.
"I said this at the start of the summer: I thought that we needed to balance our roster and make sure that we looked at the best ways to do that," Stevens told reporters on Friday at a post-NBA Draft news conference, per ESPN. "And that meant that we were going to likely lose a really, really, really good player."
Stevens' point is well-taken. The Celtics had one of the best guard trios in the league last season in Smart, Derrick White and Malcolm Brodgon. In fact, it was so good that 2020 first-round pick Payton Pritchard — who has flashed playmaking ability off the bench — struggled to crack the rotation.
Comparatively, the Celtics had little depth behind the 36-year-old Al Horford, the oft-injured Rob Williams and pending free agent Grant Williams in the frontcourt. Thus, swapping one of the team's surplus of guards for a talented big makes sense.
So, too, does getting Porzingis. As Stevens noted, the Celtics believe that the 27-year-old Latvian has the skills needed to fit seamlessly into Boston's rotation.
"From our standpoint, we just looked at it as, 'What's our best opportunity to continue to grow and improve as a team?'" Stevens said. "Knowing that sometimes really, really hard decisions have to be made. Like I said, not only adding Kristaps with his skill, his size and the positional versatility, we just had many more numbers and options at the smaller positions than we did at the bigs, especially as we look forward too."
While the Celtics' decision to trade Smart was part of a numbers game, it doesn't appear that trading the defensive stud was their top choice. Earlier in the day, it had been reported that the Celtics and Wizards were closing in on a three-team deal that would send Porzingis to Boston and Brogdon to the Clippers. Los Angeles, however, had issues with Brogdon's medical prognosis, which killed the deal.
MORE: How Malcolm Brogdon injury concerns led Celtics to trade Marcus Smart to Grizzlies
The Celtics then were forced to pivot. And evidently, the offer to get Porzingis and two first-round picks while giving up Smart was the best one on the table.
Stevens declined to address the trade that fell through and instead focused on the impact the now-departed Smart had on the team.
"The greatest legacy that you can leave is to be someplace and it's better off because you were there," Stevens said. "And I think that everybody here feels that way.
"I think that he will always be appreciated and thought of so fondly here for any number of reasons. Obviously, everybody loved the way that he plays and how hard he plays, but also his work in the community. You know, we're all really grateful to have Marcus in our life for as long as we've had and are sad to see him go."
Marcus Smart trade details
Below are the full details of what the Celtics, Grizzlies and Wizards acquired in the Kristaps Porzingis for Marcus Smart trade.
Celtics receive:
- Kristaps Porzingis
- 2023 first-round pick (No. 25)
- 2024 first-round pick
Grizzlies receive:
- Marcus Smart
Wizards receive:
- Tyus Jones
- Danilo Gallinari
- Mike Muscala
- 2023 second-round pick (No. 35)
NOH: How much better does Kristaps Porzingis make the Celtics?
Celtics depth chart
The Celtics still look like one of the deepest teams in the NBA even after trading Smart. They also worked quickly via the draft to help replace Smart's defensive impact, trading down from the 25th pick they acquired in the Smart trade to pick up several future second-round picks and Arkansas rookie Jordan Walsh.
Below is what the team's projected depth chart will look like, including its starters at each position.
| Position | Starter | Backup | Bench |
| PG | Derrick White | Malcolm Brogdon | Payton Pritchard |
| SG | Jaylen Brown | Jordan Walsh | |
| SF | Jayson Tatum | Sam Hauser | Justin Champagnie |
| PF | Kristaps Porzingis | Al Horford | |
| C | Robert Williams | Luke Kornet |
The Celtics have several roster spots still to fill and will also reserve the right to tender qualifying offers to Grant Williams, J.D. Davison and Mfiondu Kabengele. They also will have the $5 million taxpayer mid-level exception at their disposal.
Thus, it's fair to expect the Celtics' roster to continue to change during the 2023 NBA offseason. They may not make another move with consequences as drastic as the Smart trade, but it's clear that Stevens is going to tinker with the team's roster in an effort to help get the team over the championship hump.