Mavericks Trade Seth Curry's Replacement Josh Richardson to Celtics

The Dallas Mavericks have traded their Seth Curry replacement Josh Richardson to the Boston Celtics.

On the day of the 2020 NBA Draft, Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey was looking to make multiple moves during his first season in Philly's front office. In the hours leading up to the event, he moved Al Horford to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the deal that brought the Sixers Danny Green.

Then, he made another significant deal during the event as he sent the team's 36th overall pick and veteran guard Josh Richardson to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the veteran sharpshooter, Seth Curry.

At the time, Curry was a valuable member of the Mavs but never cracked Dallas' rotation full time. Coming to the Sixers, Curry was expected to see a promotion as he would replace Richardson in the starting lineup.

The Curry for Richardson swap was expected to be an even trade that gifted each team a victory in the deal at the time. As Curry certainly filled a need for the Sixers, many also believed that Richardson was a better fit in Dallas playing alongside Luka Doncic.

Well, it turns out the Sixers might've gotten the better end of the bargain at this point. After all, the Richardson-Doncic duo did not fit like a glove, and Seth Curry made it clear that Dallas made a mistake. During the 2020-2021 NBA season, Curry called it a "bad business decision" on the Mavericks' part to trade him away.

Following their first-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Dallas Mavericks seem to be cutting their losses in the deal that didn't pan out for them as they traded Josh Richardson to the Boston Celtics following the 2021 NBA Draft.

According to Tim Bontemps of ESPN, the Celtics landed Richardson from the Mavericks by using the remainder of the trade exception created by the sign-and-trade deal that sent Gordon Hayward to the Charlotte Hornets in November.

Richardson, who exercised his $11.6 million player option for the 2021-2022 season, re-joins the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference once again but as a member of the Sixers' rivals, the Celtics. Ironically, Richardson joins Al Horford, who also played on Philly's 2019-2020 squad, and new head coach Ime Udoka, who coached alongside Brett Brown for that same season. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.