Marcus Smart is all but gone from the Boston Celtics this week. Smart is extremely tradeable, with a $4.5 million contract and the fate of restricted free agency waiting for him this summer.
And Boston is hoping to maximize return for Smart as it looks to tweak its roster for the postseason. That reportedly means an asking price of a first-round pick in return for Smart’s services. He seems to be an ideal candidate for a fresh start, and Boston seems confident that it will find a trade partner willing to give a first round pick up.
But that doesn’t mean the Celtics will hold onto that pick for long. According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the goal for Boston would be to flip that pick to a team holding another, more immediately useful asset: namely Lou Williams or Tyreke Evans.
The Celtics are chasing that extra first-round pick in Marcus Smart trade talks in hopes of flipping it in a deal for either Lou Williams or Tyreke Evans, league sources say
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 6, 2018
Memphis has reportedly seen interest from the Sixers for Evans as well, and he’s been out of the lineup for a few days now as trade talks intensify. But the sticking point of a first round pick seems to be holding up any actual movement for him.
Both the Grizzlies and Clippers would welcome a first round pick for their trade chip, but Boston needs to get its deal done before that can happen, and before some other team can swoop in and make a deal for Williams or Evans happen first.
