Boston Celtics: 3 teams that could look to trade for Marcus Smart

Team that could trade for Marcus Smart No. 2) Los Angeles Clippers

When Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers opted to drop long-term max money on the likes of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, their vision for the future was to contend for titles year in and year out.

So far, through two complete seasons with this dynamic duo intact, LA has seen both its playoff runs stop short of even just an NBA Finals bid, let alone a championship.

This season, the Clips find themselves off to a rather pedestrian start, going __-__ through their first eight games of action.

Granted, they were indeed expected to struggle a bit this year what with the fact that they are slated to be without Leonard indefinitely as he continues to rehab from July’s surgery on his partially torn ACL, but, even with this, their lackluster play through this first stretch of games has been rather surprising, for they still have their other All-Star wing PG-13 rolling out on a nightly basis.

Now, hope is most certainly not lost for this team, for they still have a solid grouping of talent at their disposal and, even in the vast majority of their losses, have found themselves well within reach of coming out victorious up until the closing minutes of action.

Even without their leader in Kawhi, this team should still be focusing on tying up loose ends within their rotation to make a deep playoff push so, once he returns to the rotation (assuming he will towards the back end of the year) this team can be a true contender once again, and Marcus Smart could solve quite a few big problems currently found within their nightly performances.

The heart and soul of the Boston Celtics seemingly since arriving in eastern Massachusetts, Smart could prove to be a very valuable commodity for Los Angeles both with his impressive two-way capabilities on the floor as well as his leadership skills.

Instantaneously he’d be an upgrade over what they currently have rolling out in their starting point guard position in Eric Bledsoe, and at a younger age with much more postseason experience/ success under his belt, could prove to be an ideal acquisition for the Clippers to bring on, both in the now as well as in the long-run.