Marcus Smart Details Shocking Way He Found Out About Celtics Trade

Marcus Smart was a beloved Celtics figure during his nine-year tenure with the team, which is why his trade to the Grizzlies this past offseason was shocking.

Boston originally wanted to trade Malcolm Brogdon to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of a three-team trade to acquire Kristaps Porzingis from the Washington Wizards. However, when concerns over a physical arose, Memphis swooped in as the third team and Smart was swapped in for Brogdon. The deal came down to the wire because of the deadline on Porzingis’ player option.

Smart admitted he was distraught about the trade and denied rumors about internal turmoil with any Celtics star. The 29-year-old moved on and bought in on being a leader for a young Grizzlies team, but he threw one last shot at the Celtics before their season opener, revealing how he found out about the trade.

“If I’m being quite frank, I knew I would be traded eventually,” Smart told The Athletic’s Jared Weiss in a piece published Tuesday. “Just figured it would be the next season, just based off my contract and with the new CBA. We already knew that. But it was just the way it happened. I was told everything was good after asking multiple times. Like, ‘I’m hearing (rumors), what’s going on?’ And they’re like, ‘No, you’re good, you’re good, you’re good.’ And then when I do hear about the trade, it’s from Shams (Charania) on Twitter before I hear from the team.”

Boston fans weren’t happy to hear about how Smart was treated given his commitment to the franchise. But others noted the NBA is a business and things like this aren’t an uncommon occurrence.

Charania and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski also are at the top of the news-breaking industry because of how quickly they can get information out. And given how down to the wire the Porzingis deal went and how last-minute the Brogdon deal fell through, there might not have been time to let all parties involved know about the trade and to get the fine details worked out.

Boston has yet to give details about Ime Udoka’s season-long suspension nearly a year after it was reported he had an inappropriate relationship with a staffer. Star players like Jayson Tatum were left in the dark, and everyone else around the league was left with vague rumors to speculate on. Leaving Smart out of the loop on this offseason’s trade just added to the key internal decisions Celtics stars are left out of.

Smart helped guide the Celtics to five conference finals and one NBA Finals appearance, and he’ll hope to get the Grizzlies on track after their first-round exit last season.