Boston Celtics land Brogdon, Indiana Pacers bring on Smart along with youth
Marcus Smart has become a beloved member of the Boston Celtics community and seeing him part would certainly be a tough pill to swallow for virtually every fan of the franchise.
That said, tough decisions must be made and, if the Cs aren’t willing to pay up to keep him come the summer of 2022 when he’ll be an unrestricted free agent (which, based on multiple factors, could be a real possibility), this may be one of the better options the front office could take.
In this ordeal, we see the Swiss Army man heading to Indianapolis to join up with their talented young core of 2x All-Star, Domantas Sabonis, and rising star, Caris LeVert.
Smart’s veteran presence could prove to be of great value to this youthful roster while his all-around production (13.1 points, 5.7 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game this past campaign) could be a huge addition to the starting lineup as they look to build off of their 2021 play-in tournament appearance and contend for a playoff seed in 2022.
Along with the 2x All-Defensive talent comes a top-18 protected future first and Indiana native/ former Indiana University standout, Romeo Langford, who, though has had a rough go at it throughout his first two seasons in the association, is still on his rookie deal after being selected in the lottery back in 2019 and still possesses potential as a solid two-way role player.
As for the Celtics, they bring on Malcolm Brogdon to serve as their starting point guard moving forward.
Since signing his 4-year, $85 million deal with the Pacers two years ago, the point guard has posted impressive per-game averages of 18.9 points, 6.5 assists, and 5.1 rebounds on 45 percent shooting from the floor and 36 percent shooting from deep.
Being that the Boston Celtics could use a bit of everything heading into next year, perhaps a do-it-all player like Brogdon could be the right person to run the show and to have paired alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown moving forward.