Traded Boston Celtics guard may not be traded again before regular season

Recently-traded Boston Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon may not be traded again by the team that acquired him, the Portland Trail Blazers, ahead of the 2023-24 regular season, and could instead opt to find the best value for him ahead of the trade deadline — this, at least, according to HoopsHype’s Yossi Gozlan.

“Unlike the Lillard and Holiday situations, there isn’t as much urgency to move Brogdon and he could start the season in Portland,” Gozlan wrote. “The Blazers still project to be in the bottom of the Western Conference with their current roster and he could serve as a good veteran presence for their young backcourt. If no sufficient deal appears before the start of the season, they could wait until more teams can enter the trade market closer to the trade deadline.”

The best course of action for Portland would be to wait it out and try to extract maximum value from a team that’s lost its starting point guard due to injury. If the right contender is snake-bitten as such, the Trail Blazers stand to benefit from an unfortunate situation.

One trade scenario for former Boston Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon would need to happen before regular season

There is one very sensible trade scenario involving Brogdon that would require the guard to be dealt before the regular season: a swap between the Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets involving Kevin Porter Jr.’s salary and draft compensation. With the Rockets guard in legal trouble, it’s unlikely he will play again anytime soon; but Houston has urgency to trade him considering the increase in his salary come the start of the regular season.

Gozlan explained the specifics of a Brogdon-Porter swap.

“The Rockets are reportedly looking to package draft compensation with him and have up to 8 second-round picks available to them,” Gozlan prefaced before saying, “Porter Jr.’s contract is fully guaranteed for this season but only guaranteed for $1 million next season. If a deal were to happen, it would most likely occur before the start of the regular season before his guarantee for next season increases to $3 million.”

This is the deal to keep an eye on. If it doesn’t happen, Portland will have the reigning Sixth Man of the Year in tow to help along the young backcourt troika of Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simons, and Shaedon Sharpe in their development.