Getty Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart with their former Boston Celtics teammate Daniel Theis.
Much ado has been made about the trade discussions between the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets regarding Kevin Durant. In a roundtable between Jared Weiss, Jay King, and Alex Schiffer of The Athletic, the three of them discussed their thoughts on what both sides would have to do to agree to a deal.
In their roundtable, Schiffer revealed that Marcus Smart has been a long-time target of Sean Marks.
“Marks has been interested in Marcus Smart for years. There’s a picture of the two of them meeting at summer league from years ago.”
Shams Charania reported on July 24, 2017, that the Nets asked for Smart along with Jaylen Brown in a potential deal for Durant, but the Celtics were not interested in making that deal.
Schiffler later added that if Boston preferred not to include Smart in a trade for Durant, he would take the other Celtic who made the 2022 NBA All-Defense team.
“But if I can’t get Smart in a deal with Brown, my next ask is for Robert Williams. How do you think Stevens would take that?”
Although Schiffer was trying to see what could work in a possible trade between the Celtics and the Nets, he still couldn’t make out why the Celtics would look to make a deal.
Celtics Trade Offer ‘Doesn’t Make Sense’
The Celtics are coming off their most successful playoff run since 2010. Their two best players are in their mid-20’s who have already experienced plenty of playoff success together. They have the reigning Defensive Player of the Year who hasn’t hit 30 yet. Their first-year head coach guided them to the NBA Finals. They just added two players who should only make them better on paper. So why mess with what’s working?
Schiffer brought this up in the roundtable. He brought up that the Celtics have what the Nets want, so going after Durant with all that’s going right for them doesn’t make much sense.
“That’s what puzzles me about the Celtics end of this, though I came here for your Boston insights, not mine,” Schiffler stated. “They have everything the Nets haven’t as an organization in recent years. Healthy stars, continuity, buy-in, cap flexibility, etc. If it ain’t broke, right? To trade Brown and then some for Durant when it appears their contention window is only beginning to open doesn’t really make sense to me.”
It remains to be seen if Boston truly is willing to shake things up to trade for Durant. If they were to include someone like Smart in a trade like that, that may hurt them in multiple ways. At least Jared Weiss thinks so.
Trading Smart ‘Changes the Team’s Identity’
In another interview with Michael Scotto, Weiss talked about the potential ramifications of trading Smart in a deal for Durant. Weiss stressed that defense was what shaped Boston’s identity in the 2021-22 season. Trading Smart, the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year, would change that identity were he to be traded.
“If you trade Smart, you’re trading a player who has this deep root within the organization and is a massive force who’s the central identity to the defense that made them so great. Last year, they wanted to build this team around a defensive identity. It worked pretty well. If they trade Smart in the deal, they’re changing the identity of the franchise pretty drastically… I think Smart is worth more to this team than other teams.”
Having made the NBA All-Defensive First Team three times in his NBA career on top of winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2022, Smart has proved himself to be among the league’s most valuable defenders.