11 People who turned their backs on the Celtics
By Will Eudy
Malcolm Brogdon
The most recent inclusion on this list, Malcolm Brogdon joined the Celtics when he was traded to Boston from Indiana in July of 2022. For the first time in his career, Brogdon accepted a full-time bench role in joining the defending Eastern Conference champions.
He enjoyed a highly successful season in Boston during 2022-23, taking home the sixth man of the year award. But trouble arose after the season was over, when the team explored options for trading Brogdon.
The Celtics were intent on pursuing Kristaps Porzingis. As we are seeing in the current season, it was a worthwhile gamble for them. In their pursuit of the talented big man, Boston was willing to ship out Malcolm Brogdon and had a deal in the works to send him to the LA Clippers in a three-team deal that also included the Washington Wizards.
But when that deal fell through, the Celtics pivoted and dealt away Marcus Smart instead, and left Brogdon extremely upset with the team for the whole messy situation. Boston would attempt to do some damage control by publicly declaring they were not listening to trade requests for Brogdon, but the damage was done.
From that point on, a disconnect between Brogdon and the organization seemed constant, and the team eventually parted ways with him when they dealt him in the trade for Jrue Holiday. Things have felt awkward between the Celtics and Brogdon ever since.