Celtics fans are wrong about the team's newest trade addition

Tuesday’s trade was the Boston Celtics’ second big move of the offseason. The deal sent Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks for Georges Niang in a three-team trade including the Brooklyn Nets.

Niang, a 32-year-old from Lawrence, Massachusetts, has been a solid role player in the NBA for nine years now. Yet, the only thing Celtics fans remember him for is that time he grabbed Jaylen Brown’s leg as a member of the rival Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Semifinals.

With that being said, it’s not surprising that the reaction in Niang’s first 24 hours since reportedly being traded to Boston hasn’t been great. Fans online have been whining and clamoring for the team to move the veteran forward in a secondary trade.

It’s been pretty sad and pathetic to watch, especially because there’s a pretty good chance that Niang is a good fit with the Cs.

Georges Niang is good (for what he’s going to be asked to do), and Celtics fans need to accept it

There’s plenty of cloudiness surrounding the Celtics heading into the 2025-26 season, as star forward Jayson Tatum is expected to miss most, if not all, of it. Staying afloat without him is going to be a challenge, but the depth (draft and free agency pending) could still be there enough for Boston to compete in a weak Eastern Conference. Why not, right?

Tatum’s looming absence will likely open the door for Niang to have a regular rotation spot with the Cs. When the Methuen Minivan inevitably steps foot on the parquet, the fans who have been jeering his acquisition should see a change of heart. The same reasons why they’re still complaining about the altercation between him and JB will be at the root of their eventual appreciation for gritty vet.

Niang is a classic example of the “hate him when he’s against you, love him when he’s on your team” player. He’s a big body who can knock down threes at an elite level, while working his tail off and taking charges on defense.

Since the 2019-20 season, when Niang first saw real minutes for the Utah Jazz, he’s shot 40% or higher from beyond the arc on a respectable volume of attempts. The only season where he fell short of that efficient clip was his 2023-24 campaign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, during which he still made 37.6% of his long-range attempts. For his career, Niang is a 39.9% three-point shooter.

Much like Boston’s other recent trade acquisition, Anfernee Simons, the six-foot-seven-inch forward should be a tremendous fit in the “Mazzulla Ball” offense. Hopefully, the team will still be able to create a high volume of clean looks from beyond the arc without Tatum, who has been the centerpiece of the offense for years now.

Defensively, it would be silly to sit here and pretend that Niang is elite. He’s not. But it also doesn’t mean he’s a traffic cone. It’s easy to recall how much of an irritant Niang was during some of his games against Boston this past year. He managed to get far enough under Tatum’s skin in a November NBA Cup game for the Celtics star to show some emotion (a rare occurrence) after drilling a big bucket on him to cap off a strong third quarter.

That’s right, I just argued that he’s a serviceable defender with that clip.

It would be unfair to expect Niang to bring as much to the table as Porzingis, who was traded for. There’s no way he’ll impact the game in the same way. That doesn’t mean he can’t be a solid role player on a competitive Celtics team.