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Celtics G.M. Brad Stevens on trade: ‘It was our best opportunity to grow and improve as a team’

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James Foglio
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James Foglio Sports Editor

James is a Basketball Insiders contributor. He earned his bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. James enjoys watching sports and helping gamblers win money.

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Sports Editor

Updated23 Jun 2023

Boston Celtics GM Brad Stevens on trade It was our best opportunity to grow and improve as a team

Boston Celtics general manager Brad Stevens pulled the trigger on a three-team trade that brought in Washington Wizards center Kristaps Porzingis and sent 2022 DPOY Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies. A number of Boston fans are still questioning Stevens’ decision, but he believes the trade was all about balancing a roster.

“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. “And that meant that we were going to likely lose a really, really, really good player.”

According to a few NBA betting sites, the Boston Celtics hold second-shortest odds to win next season’s championship in 2024. Sportsbooks are giving the Denver Nuggets the best odds to repeat in the 2023-24 season.


In a three-team trade on Wednesday, the Celtics acquired Porzingis from the Wizards after the seven-year veteran opted into his $36 million contract for the 2023-2024 season. Boston then sent its 35th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft to Washington.

Washington also received Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala from Boston. Plus, the Grizzlies sent their 2023 and 2024 first-round picks to the Celtics. Memphis sent its 25th pick in last night’s draft to Boston, along with its top-four protected 2024 pick via the Golden State Warriors for Smart.

Boston Celtics G.M. Brad Stevens says the team had ‘many more options and numbers at the smaller positions’ compared to the bigs

“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.”

Although Stevens trading away Smart has left the Celtics fanbase divided, adding Porzingis was a solid move. The 7-foot-3 big man is only 27-year-old. Al Horford turned 37 earlier this month, and he will be entering his 17th season in 2023-24.


In 65 starts with the Wizards in the 2022-23 season, Porzingis averaged career highs of 23.2 points and 32.6 minutes per game. He shot a career-best 49.8% from the floor as well.

In Washington’s 122-120 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Mar. 8, the center also scored a career-high 43 points in 38 minutes as a starter. Along with logging five boards and five assists, the center shot 17-of-22 (77.3%) from the field and 7-of-10 (70%) from 3-point range.

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