Celtics fans just missed out on fun offseason trend after latest news

This offseason has been unkind to the Boston Celtics, to say the very least. The genesis of the pain stems back to the playoffs, where Boston fell to the New York Knicks and lost Jayson Tatum to a ruptured Achilles in the process. Since then, the Cs have removed pieces from their 2024 NBA Championship roster like a game of Jenga.

Both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis were traded away in salary-shedding trades, Luke Kornet signed with the San Antonio Spurs as a free agent, and Al Horford’s time in Boston has all but come to an end.

"We've known for a long time that hard decisions were coming," Stevens said earlier this month of the team’s offseason moves (via CLNS Media). "The second apron is why those trades happened. I think that is pretty obvious. And the basketball penalties associated with those are real. ... So that was part of making the decision to push and put our chips on the table and go for the last two years."

As if losing the aforementioned quartet wasn’t enough, Cs fans got another gut punch this week when longtime Celtics guard Marcus Smart was bought out of his contract with the Washington Wizards and signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Celtics fans have missed out on all the fun

Smart, a beloved figure in Boston, joining the Lakers came as a surprise, but also left Celtics fans feeling a little left out of a recent offseason trend.

Both LA Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers supporters got to enjoy some sweet nostalgia in recent days. Chris Paul and Damian Lillard each returned to their respective longtime homes after spending some time away.

Paul, who hadn’t played for the Clippers since 2017, elected to return and finish his career alongside Kawhi Leonard and co., while Lillard will rehab his own Achilles injury in Rip City.

"I ain't gonna cry, but I don't usually be feeling like this,” Lillard said while walking through Portland’s locker room in a video posted to the team’s social media. “I feel so happy on the inside."

There’s no doubt that both guards have strong connections to their respective franchises, much like Smart does to the Celtics. In 11 seasons with the Trail Blazers, Lillard appeared in 769 games. Paul appeared in 409 games during six seasons with the Clips, while Smart appeared in 581 games in nine seasons with the Cs.

Though he wasn’t the same All-Star level player as Paul and Lillard, the former No. 6 overall pick would’ve likely been celebrated in the same way had he returned to Boston’s North End. He consistently left everything he had on the parquet en route to three All-Defensive selections, as well as the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year Award. In that same season, Smart helped the Celtics return to their first NBA Finals in 12 years, serving as the team’s starting point guard.

Instead of celebrating a reunion, Celtics fans have to scroll social media and see Smart draped in purple and gold.

Yuck.