Malcolm Brogdon was expected to join the Clippers as part of a three-team trade that would send Kristaps Porzingis to the Boston Celtics.
Eventually, the trade never happened, with the Memphis Grizzlies getting involved and landing Marcus Smart, one of the top defenders in the NBA, who spent his entire nine-year career with the Celtics.
For his part, Kristaps Porzingis opted in to his $36M player option and now joins Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to form a Big-3 in Boston.
A day later, it was revealed that Malcolm Brogdon’s arm injury during the Eastern Conference Finals versus the Miami Heat prevented the Clippers from completing the trade.
“A health issue, that I understand, is so significant that not only can the Celtics not do this trade, there’s probably no Malcolm Brogdon trade they can do in the short-term,” Brian Windhorst said on ESPN.
Malcolm Brogdon was a key part of the Celtics’ deep playoff run. He averaged 14.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the regular season as well as 14.9 points (on 45% shooting and 42.3% from beyond the arc), 3.9 boards and 3.3 assists through the first 15 games of the postseason. He went scoreless in Games 4, 5 and 7.
