The Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks discussed this major trade

There are certain guarantees every year for Boston Celtics fans around the NBA Trade Deadline, one of them is Marcus Smart’s name consistently popping up.

The veteran defensive stalwart has been the longest-tenured Celtic and unquestioned heart and soul of this C’s team.  Any return for the guard would have to be significant per team sources.

Apparently, news broke this week about preliminary trade talks between the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics per Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. Talks even came to the point of the initial framework on a deal centered around Marcus Smart going to the Hawks for Cam Reddish and Kevin Huerter.

Discussions stalled out because the Boston Celtics did not feel like the return was significant enough for Smart’s value.  This resulted in the Hawks’ wing getting traded to the Knicks for essentially a bag of chips without the dip.

I believe Brad Stevens missed out on a major upgrade to the Celtics team as the additions of Reddish and Huerter would have added to our strong young core.

The Smart experiment at point guard has not worked to put it simply.  When our ball movement is bottom of the league, it falls on the point guard.  As big of a defensive impact as Smart truly has on the C’s, his underwhelming play on offense negates it.

What the Boston Celtics would have gotten with the young pieces from the Hawks

The former Duke wing has tremendous two-way upside and has shown sparks of potential stardom in Atlanta.  A possible great third option on the Celtics. Sign me up.

Cam was having quite the campaign in Atlanta and many believed he was the 2nd best talent on the team behind Trae.

Red Velvet gives us another reliable floor spacer who shoots a career 37% from distance. Kevin could have been an incredible bench piece to a slumping 2nd unit. A consistent double-digit scorer in Atlanta who can create his own shot and is scrappy defensively.

In my opinion, I feel like the Celtics are selling way too high on Marcus Smart. The chance to move off a contract that he has not lived up to and will not live up to anytime soon.  Meanwhile, getting a two-for-one on a deal like this would have given us financial flexibility and a deeper team going forward.

What do you say Celtics fans?  Did Brad drop the ball here? Maybe, this is leading to a potential John Collins-Marcus Smart swap discussed here.

Ok, Mr. Stevens do your due diligence.