Grade the Trade: Boston Celtics proposal swaps Malcolm Brogdon for $74M wing

The future of Malcolm Brogdon in a Boston Celtics uniform seems a bit cloudy after the team tried trading him to the Los Angeles Clippers last week. The deal eventually fell through because L.A. wasn’t able to secure a physical in time and pulled out at the last minute.

Going forward, it’s tough to imagine that Brogdon is thrilled to be playing for a team that openly tried to trade him.

In the spirit of the awkward situation, MassLive’s Brian Robb proposed a deal that would send the reigning Sixth Man of the Year to the San Antonio Spurs, in exchange for Keldon Johnson.

“A cost controlled for the present would give Boston plenty of options for long-term building around Jayson Tatum with him signed for the next four years,” Robb wrote of Johnson. “Would Malcolm Brogdon and three future first-round picks catch the Spurs attention? He may be off the market entirely but this is a name worth inquiring on due to his deal.”

Should the Boston Celtics be interested in Keldon Johnson?

Yeah, kind of.

Johnson is just 23 years old and is coming off of a solid season, perhaps the best of his career. He averaged 22.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 63 appearances for the Spurs last year. The four-year veteran had a somewhat efficient season, knocking down 45.2% of his attempts from the field, and 32.9% of those from distance. Those splits are a bit better for his career as a whole at 46.8%/36.3%.

If Johnson was to be dealt to the Celtics this summer as part of Robb’s proposal, he’d likely be filling a bench role as a backup to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

With that being said, he’d be a promising fit in that spot. He’s proven that he can score the basketball at a semi-efficient rate while serving as a top option on a bad team. If he was to suit up for Boston, the average would certainly drop in terms of points per game, but Johnson would likely be taking much cleaner attempts from the field, meaning he’d shoot at a much more efficient clip.

On top of that, he’s entering the first season of a four-year, $74 million contract extension, which decreases in value as the years go on, per Spotrac.

Official Boston Celtics-San Antonio Spurs trade grade: B

Johnson would undoubtedly give the Celtics some much-needed depth at the wing. However, they’d be robbing Peter to pay Paul in this scenario.

Brogdon — of course — was the winner of the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award last season. He played a key role in Boston’s regular-season success, before getting injured and becoming unplayable in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The poor performance he had while playing through a torn tendon in his right forearm has left a bad taste in Celtics fans’ mouths.

If they were to trade away Brogdon in favor of Johnson, they’d likely garner the same scoring production from the bench unit. The sweetener is that they’d receive a much younger player in Johnson, who is under contract for the foreseeable future. But, on the other hand, they’d be extremely thin at the guard position after the deal. Plus, they’d be giving up quite a haul in terms of those future firsts.

At the end of the day, this is a deal that the Cs should pursue if — and only if — they’re completely unable to mend their relationship with Brogdon.

For more potential Brogdon trade ideas, click below to see CelticsBlog’s Jack Simone and I discuss and rank some scenarios.