Celtics Trade Proposal Sees Boston Finally Land Long-Sought Sharpshooter

Celtics trade proposal sends Malik Beasley to Boston

Getty Former Denver Nuggets wing Malik Beasley.

The Boston Celtics look like a different team. And come 3:00 pm ET on February 10, they may have a few new pieces to better drive that notion home.

Surging up the Eastern Conference rankings and suddenly looking apt enough to make a legitimate postseason push, the Cs have been littered in trade speculation in recent weeks. Plenty of which has revolved around the future whereabouts of starting point guard Marcus Smart.

The team’s longest-tenured player, Smart is coming off a 22-point outing and in the midst of arguably the best two-week stretch of his Celtics career. However, that hasn’t stopped Boston from listening to trade offers for the eight-year pro. The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner reported on February 7 that he’s actually heard chatter regarding a Smart-Bogdan Bogdanović trade framework in recent days. Furthermore, the Minnesota Timberwolves are “definitely” trying to acquire Smart ahead of the deadline, per  KSTP’s Darren Wolfson. Yet, as Wolfson noted on Skor North’s “Mackey & Judd” podcast on February 3, “unless (the Timberwolves) include a first-round pick or Jaden McDaniels in addition to Malik Beasley, (a deal) most likely doesn’t get done.”

Well, what if Minnesota offered all of that?


B/R Proposal Finally Secures Beasley for the Cs

With just hours until the cutoff time to swing a deal, Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report doesn’t think the Timberwolves should get picky when it comes to their outgoing haul to acquire Smart. Instead, he proposes Minnesota package Beasley, McDaniels and a future top-10 protected first-round pick in a “last-minute” offer to Boston to secure Smart’s services. Here’s how the hypothetical deal shapes up:

  • Minnesota Timberwolves Receive:
    • Marcus Smart
    • Enes Freedom
  • Boston Celtics Receive:
    • Jaden McDaniels
    • Malik Beasley
    • 2022 first-round pick (top-10 protected)

via Hughes:

Per SKORNorth’s Darren Wolfson: Minnesota definitely trying to trade for Marcus Smart… So, what’s the holdup on Minnesota’s end? The Wolves have Jarred Vanderbilt filling the ‘rangy, energetic, non-shooting forward’ niche, which means they shouldn’t be fixated on keeping another similar player in McDaniels… Throw protections on a first-rounder and call it good!

Smart would give the Wolves an upgrade on the Patrick Beverley position, assuming they let the veteran point guard walk in free agency this summer. More importantly, Smart would add supreme defensive versatility and provide an example of the effort level it takes to win meaningful games to Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, neither of whom have played many of those.


Celtics Interest in Beasley

Boston’s intrigue in Beasley is no secret at this point. The Athletic’s Jared Weiss reported on February 2 that the Celtics had previously explored a trade scenario that would have shipped Josh Richardson and one of either Romeo Langford or Aaron Nesmith to Minnesota for Beasley. The Timberwolves ultimately opted against the trade at the time in hopes of finding a bigger move down the line. Well, now it’s down the line and landing Smart would presumably be a “bigger move.”

Beasley, 25, has taken his bumps this season, averaging 12.4 points while shooting 36.2% from three. Still, he’s proven to be a consistent scoring presence in the past. Just last season he averaged a career-best 19.6 points per game for the Timberwolves and combined to shoot 41.3% from beyond the arc from 2019-2020.

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