The Boston Celtics will never forget that they got their hands on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown because of those unprotected lottery picks they got from the Brooklyn Nets. Once upon a time, they expected a similar unintentional favor from the Memphis Grizzlies, but Ja Morant was the one who stood in the way.
With him expected to hit the trade market this summer, it makes it more painful knowing Boston could have had another cornerstone
Let's start with the latest rumor on Morant. NBA Insider Jake Fischer revealed that the Grizzlies are expected to explore Morant's trade market this summer.
"Memphis (is) widely expected to resume its efforts to trade him in the coming weeks.
"However …
"I am starting to hear predictive murmurs that the Grizzlies will find a wider trade market for Morant than they did in February when external interest was extremely minimal."
No, Boston shouldn't get in on that unless they really think Morant would put them over the top. It's hard to think how they would, but the point of bringing up this intel is the fact that Morant played a part in somewhat ruining a golden Celtics asset.
Morant & the Grizzlies ruined the draft pick they owed the Celtics
Before the 2019-20 season, the Grizzlies owed the Celtics a top-6 protected pick thanks to the Jeff Green trade. Because Memphis had basically blown themselves up over the past season and a half (trading Marc Gasol and Mike Conley Jr.), many believed Boston was primed to get another top-10 pick and potentially better.
But unfortunately, it turned out Morant was more NBA-ready than everyone thought, as he guided them to a 34-39 record, which technically gave the Celtics a lottery pick, but they were giftwrapped the No. 14 pick. That turned into Aaron Nesmith.
For the record, Nesmith was a decent Celtic who has carved out an impressive rookie career, and drafting him started the chain reaction that ultimately led to Jrue Holiday coming to Boston, and in turn, Banner 18.
But man, it is hard not to think about what could have been. Some of the best players from the 2020 NBA Draft came in the eight through 12 range, meaning if the Grizzlies had just been slightly worse, the Celtics could have had Tyrese Haliburton or Deni Avdija.
The Celtics made up for it indeed, but it's instances like these that can be painful to look back on, especially now that Morant and the Grizzlies are likely on the outs.
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