According to MassLive’s Brian Robb, the Boston Celtics backcourt quartet of Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and the team’s newest acquisition, Malcolm Brogdon, is ‘definitely not’ guaranteed to remain in Beantown beyond the upcoming 2022-23 NBA season.
Robb was answering a reader’s question in his Boston Celtics mailbag about whether or not there was another shoe to be imminently dropped after the Cs made moves to acquire two high-priced combo guards to a rotation that already has a $76 million starting floor general in Smart, and a burgeoning young ball-handler in Pritchard that will be extension-eligible next offseason.
In addition to a potential Pritchard payday, the front office has Grant Williams’ restricted free agency next summer to worry about if he isn’t inked to an extension now and Brogdon’s unrestricted free agency to deal with as well. For all we know, Danilo Gallinari could opt out of his deal and expect a raise as well if his fit with the Celtics is a smooth one.
With so many moving parts a year from now, it appears almost a certainty that this backcourt won’t stick together on the Cs beyond the coming season — if it isn’t tinkered with by next February’s trade deadline.
Malcolm Brogdon is the most likely player to be moved by the Boston Celtics
Within hours of landing with the Boston Celtics, Malcolm Brogdon’s name was already being talked about in potential future deals if his fit in green isn’t beneficial for head coach Ime Udoka’s machine. If there is a player of the bunch who would go in the event the new-look roster doesn’t click, it’d be Brogdon. The 29-year-old has not come off the bench since his second NBA season in 2017-18 and is in a contract year, so a contender that suffers an unfortunate injury at the 1 could swoop in and offer help in other areas if Boston so needs it.
Payton Pritchard could be the odd man out in the early going, just as he was last season. Robb wouldn’t confirm that he’d get minutes this coming year, saying ‘Ultimately, would expect Udoka to go 9-10 players deep each night (with Pritchard being the wildcard).’
That doesn’t mean that changes won’t be made to open up room for him if he can prove his game is improving on nights Udoka is resting his top guys. Like last year, Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens could deal away a veteran on an expiring contract in order to give Pritchard a chance.