Grizzlies played key role in ‘disastrous’ move by title favorite

When it comes to the blockbuster multi-team trade that sent Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies, Grind City faithful have seemingly voiced nothing but positive words and reactions.

With this move, many believe the veteran guard’s addition to the young roster will not only prove to be a way to help mentor the highly talented yet troubled Ja Morant but also provide a replacement option at the starting one during his 25-game suspension to start the upcoming campaign.

However, when it comes to the organization that coughed up Smart in the exchange in the Boston Celtics, Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz seems to believe that such a decision could wind up proving to have “disastrous” consequences for the title favorites.

"“Once referred to as “the heart and soul of this team” by Jaylen Brown, Smart was Boston’s best passer and only one season removed from winning Defensive Player of the Year. He gets the Celtics into their offensive sets, calls teammates out if necessary and can start fires when they clearly need a spark,” Swartz wrote.“When Smart, Jayson Tatum and Brown all shared the floor this postseason, the Celtics had a net rating of plus-7.4 (90th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). When the two star forwards were on the court without Smart, that number tumbled to minus-0.9 (47th percentile).The Celtics will miss both Smart’s presence on the court and in the locker room.”"

Marcus Smart was selected sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in the 2014 NBA draft and spent nine seasons with the franchise before being traded to the Grizzlies this summer.

Throughout his tenure with his former employers, the 29-year-old established himself as one of the game’s best talents on the less glamorous side of the ball, earning All-Defensive Team honors on three separate occasions and, in 2022, became the first guard since Gary Payton in 1996 to win the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award.

He finished his career in Boston with nine straight postseason visits, including five trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and one appearance in the NBA Finals, and sported per-game averages of 10.6 points, 4.6 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.6 steals with an astounding 107 defensive rating.

For Memphis, this offseason’s blockbuster has some such as ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne believing that the club should now be viewed as the biggest threat to dethrone the reigning champion Denver Nuggets in 2023-24.

For Boston, however, Swartz seems to believe that though on paper “getting Kristaps Porziņģis and two first-round picks for Marcus Smart looks like good value,” in three-years time this “massive gamble” could prove to be an astonishingly grand mistake.

3 All-Star trade targets Memphis Grizzlies must avoid

There are three rumored All-Star trade targets the Memphis Grizzlies should strongly consider avoiding a pursuit of this offseason.