Analyst tabs Boston Celtics guard with fractured franchise relationship tradeable

Malcolm Brogdon, the NBA’s reigning Sixth Man of the Year, is a “way-too-early” trade candidate for the Boston Celtics according to Sir Charles in Charge’s Michael Saenz — who believes that a fast start to the 2023-24 season should actually facilitate a future elsewhere.

“(Brogdon’s) not a player that the Celtics are going to pursue an extension for and has just one year remaining on his contract after this season,” Saenz prefaced before saying, “If he has a healthy and productive start to this season, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if the Celtics attempted to cash in on Brogdon at the trade deadline. Especially if Derrick White can control the backcourt as the starting point guard.” Brogdon, as Joe Mazzulla revealed, has “healing” to do with the franchise.

“There is a healing process, there is a listening process and to see where we are at and where we have to get to,” Mazzulla said (h/t The Athletic’s Jared Weiss). “We’ve had some conversations as an organization but at the same time, we understand that’s the situation that it was and as the healing process goes on, we will move forward as well as you can.”

The Boston Celtics’ point guard situation makes projecting a trade difficult

Technically, the Boston Celtics have just one “true” point guard on the roster; that being Brogdon. Derrick White is a true 2 that happens to have playmaking ability, especially within the Celtics’ offense. Payton Pritchard is more of an undersized combo guard than a typical pass-first point guard.

Given Pritchard’s midseason trade demand and the original canceled Kristaps Porzingis trade that was going to pack Brogdon’s bags and send him to the Los Angeles Clippers, projecting a deal is hard to do. By midseason, a free-agent veteran could become available on the buyout market, but as it stands, it’s tough to rely on Dalano Banton or JD Davison after trading one of the aforementioned guards.