Celtics fans got a very weird experience at NBA Media Day

Media Day is one of the most exciting dates on the NBA calendar. It’s reminiscent of the first day of school. Players come together to create a mixture of familiar and new faces to kick off training camp after a long offseason.

For Boston Celtics fans, there were plenty of those new faces to get to know on Monday: Anfernee Simons, Luka Garza, Josh Minott, Chris Boucher, and the team’s four rookies made their first appearances in Celtics green, speaking to the media and taking team photos.

As much as Media Day showcased what’s ahead for the Cs, it also reminded fans of what they’d lost.

Marcus Smart in purple and gold is weird

Around the league, there was plenty for those supporters to get used to. Many former Celtics players donned new threads for the first time, making for some pretty jarring sights.

None was more off-putting than seeing Marcus Smart in Los Angeles Lakers purple and gold.

Smart signed with LA over the summer, after the Washington Wizards bought out the final year of his deal. The former No. 6 overall pick spent his first nine NBA seasons in Boston and became a favorite for many fans. Even when he was traded away, some argued that his jersey number should be retired.

It’s odd enough seeing him as a Laker, never mind that he’s teaming up with longtime Celtics rival LeBron James. James and Luka Doncic couldn’t say enough about Smart’s defense and how thankful they are to not have to play against him anymore. This is just about as disgusting as disgusting gets, folks.

More recently departed players like Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday weren’t as upsetting to see in their new colors.

The Celtics traded both players to the Atlanta Hawks and the Portland Trail Blazers, respectively, in a pair of cost-cutting moves to avoid the second-apron threshold and the penalties that accompany paying above it.

Porzingis’ time in Boston ended with a whimper, as he was significantly hindered by a lingering illness during the team’s playoff run in the spring. After taking some photos with his new Hawks teammates, KP told the media that all symptoms have subsided and he’s ready to go ahead of what should be an exciting season in Atlanta.

Holiday’s Trail Blazers are in a different spot than the Hawks. They definitely improved over the summer, but have their work cut out for them in a loaded Western Conference. The two-time All-Star, specifically, finds himself in a unique situation. He’ll be playing alongside two teammates, Damian Lillard and former Celtics center Robert Williams III, for whom he was traded in two separate deals.

It was strange to see him and TimeLord chopping it up in a post to the Blazers’ social media, to say the least.

Photos of Luke Kornet and JD Davison in their new threads down in Texas made their way onto Celtics fans’ timelines, too.

Kornet earned himself a big paycheck from the San Antonio Spurs back in July, while Davison landed with the Houston Rockets after the Celtics waived him later in the summer.

Al Horford’s reported deal with the Golden State Warriors has yet to become official, so he was a notable absence in Monday’s media circuit. We did get this funny moment of Jimmy Butler pretending not to know about him, though.

It’s funny to see so many familiar faces scattered around the Association after experiencing nothing of the sort last fall. Boston had brought just about everyone back in the wake of their 2024 NBA Championship run.

This season, fans won’t have a hard time finding someone to root for (or against) as they scroll through League Pass. That’s for sure.