Boston Celtics: Marcus Smart traded to San Antonio Spurs in N.A.N mock

Wouldn’t it be something to see Gregg Popovich coaching Marcus Smart during the tail end of his coaching career? Well, NBA Analysis Network is aiming to create this chaos, sending the mercurial Boston Celtics guard to the Alamo City in a mock trade.

The main return piece in the deal includes Dejounte Murray, but it also sends a swatch of future picks to the Spurs.

This is why the Houdini sees this as a no-go.

Here’s Brett Siegel’s mock proposal:

"Boston Celtics Receive: G Dejounte Murray, F Keita Bates-DiopSan Antonio Spurs Receive: G Marcus Smart, F Aaron Nesmith, BOS 2022 1st Round Pick (Unprotected), BOS 2025 1st Round Pick (Top-5 Protected)"

Sure, one of the first round picks is protected to the point of being almost impossible to convey. Then again, if this deal falls flat and Jaylen Brown bolts in the summer of 2024 (or finds a way out before then), Jayson Tatum may force Boston’s hand ahead of his own contract year and leaves the 2024-25 Cs short-handed. That would make this deal right here potentially disastrous, even with that scenario being fairly remote at this point.

As tremendous as a season as Dejounte Murray is having–currently averaging 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists per game, better numbers than Ben Simmons ever had–his recent ACL tear and high salary figure could leave the Boston Celtics with an injury prone asset and less draft capital than they have now.

For fun, though, it was certainly fun picturing Smart in a San Antonio Spurs uniform, if only to have a laugh at Pop’s reactions to games Smart initiates hero ball and bucks the offensive play-calls from the 72-year-old head coach.

Perhaps swapping Nesmith with Juan Hernangomez and Keita Bates-Diop with either Zach Collins or Jakob Poeltl could make this a far more palatable situation for Cs fans.