Clippers-Celtics Trade Falls Apart, Malcolm Brogdon Remains With Boston

Boston traded for Kristaps Porzingis as part of a deal that did not include Brogdon, who remains a Celtic for the time being

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

For the time being, Malcolm Brogdon remains a Boston Celtic. 

After multiple reports emerged on Wednesday evening that the Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards, and Los Angeles Clippers were closing in on a three-team deal that would send Brogdon to the Clippers and Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics, that trade ultimately fell apart in the late hours of Wednesday night and was replaced by a new three-team trade involving the Celtics, Wizards, and Memphis Grizzlies. As part of that new trade, the details of which emerged around midnight Eastern on Wednesday night, Boston finally managed to acquire Porzingis, Washington landed Tyus Jones, and Memphis received Marcus Smart, while Malcolm Brogdon, at least for now, remains a member of the Boston Celtics. 

Here's a timeline of how this trade went down followed by some analysis of what it all means for Malcolm Brogdon's future:

At 4:33pm ET on Wednesday afternoon, Shams Charania reported that the Celtics, Wizards, and Clippers were "closing in" on a trade that would send Kristaps Porzingis to Boston, Malcolm Brogdon to the LA Clippers, and Marcus Morris to Washington. Details later emerged that the complete trade deal sent Danilo Gallinari (BOS), Marcus Morris (LAC), Amir Coffey (LAC), and a draft pick to the Wizards. 

At 10:22pm ET on Wednesday night, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the deal between the Celtics, Wizards, and Clippers had fallen apart and later added that the Celtics and Wizards were still in talks to salvage the deal, while working under a "midnight ET deadline" to ensure that the deal was completed while Porzingis could still opt in to his $36 million player option in order to make the trade possible. 

NBA insider Marc Stein reported at 10:35pm ET that the original trade involving the Clippers collapsed due to LA's concerns over Brogdon's injury status, as he had missed extended time in the playoffs with a forearm injury that may still require surgery during the offseason. 

Just before midnight ET, Wojnarowski reported that the Celtics, Wizards, and Memphis Grizzlies had agreed to a three-team trade that ultimately included the following packages:

Celtics get: C Kristaps Porzingis, 2023 1st Round Pick (No. 25 from Memphis), 2024 First Round Pick (top 4 protected from Memphis via Golden State)
Wizards get: G Tyus Jones, F Danilo Gallinari, C Mike Muscala, 2023 Second Round Pick (No. 35 from Boston)
Grizzlies get: G Marcus Smart

The deal gives the Celtics the talented center they are hoping is the missing piece to their 18th NBA championship puzzle in 7'3" Latvian Kristaps Porzingis, the former No. 4 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. The Wizards clear cap space for their impending rebuild by removing Porzingis' contract and pick up some quality veterans  in Jones, Gallinari, and Muscala. The Grizzlies receive one of the top defenders in the NBA and a veteran leader for their youthful locker room in Marcus Smart, who had long been the heart and soul of the Celtics in his nine years in Boston. The move to acquire Smart will also help the Grizzlies endure the absence of Ja Morant, who will serve a 25-game suspension to start next season. 

The end result of the trade is that Malcolm Brogdon remains with the Boston Celtics, for now. It's very clear that Boston president Brad Stevens was more than willing to trade this year's NBA Sixth Man of the Year and likely would have preferred to move Brogdon over giving up Marcus Smart, but had to offer Smart to Memphis in order to make the trade go through. The Celtics have other significant roster questions to answer - namely, if they'll continue to roll with the star duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and whether they'll attempt to re-sign restricted free agent Grant Williams. How those roster questions are answered will likely be extremely pertinent to Brogdon's future with the organization, which is still uncertain at this point. 

For now, it remains to be seen if Malcolm Brogdon will play a second season for the Boston Celtics. 

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