The Celtics Are Reportedly Asking For A First Round Pick For Marcus Smart In Trade Talks


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The NBA trade deadline is three days away which means rumors will be flying around until we hit 3 p.m. ET on Thursday. The Cavaliers will be the focal point of many eyes, as people wonder what the reigning Eastern Conference champs will be able to do to make improvements to their roster and whether they’ll make the Brooklyn pick available.

However, elsewhere there are plenty of teams to watch as the deadline approaches, with the Clippers still in discussions to possibly deal Lou Williams and DeAndre Jordan, the Bulls looking to offload more veterans, Tyreke Evans being shopped by Memphis and plenty of other teams looking to shake things up for a playoff push.

Among those teams jockeying for playoff position are the Denver Nuggets, as they are getting Paul Millsap back in the rotation and hope to add some point guard help for the stretch run. Denver is reportedly interested in are Darren Collison of the Pacers and Marcus Smart of the Celtics, among others, to try and beef up their backcourt.

Boston is among the teams in the running for Evans and they are reportedly fielding offers for Smart, but the Nuggets’ offer is yet to include the first round pick Boston is asking for.

Smart’s $4.5 million contract is easily movable and considering he’ll be a restricted free agent this summer, he’s plenty valuable to whatever team trades for him.

It’s interesting that Boston, a team that is a contender this year that already has plenty of picks stockpiled for the future, would still be looking to flip Smart for another first round pick rather than looking to bolster its current roster. That said, this has been Danny Ainge’s M.O. for awhile and it’s never a bad idea to keep some flexibility moving forward in terms of holding onto current and future assets.

One would think a Smart trade would be contingent on Boston landing Evans from Memphis, which may cost them a first and explain the desire to acquire another one. In any case, despite being the East’s top team, Boston will apparently once again at the least produce plenty of smoke, if not actual fire, around the trade deadline.

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