The Boston Celtics attempted to trade Malcolm Brogdon this offseason after only one season with the team in which he earned the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award last season. However, the trade fell through as the Los Angeles Clippers didn’t have enough time to do their due diligence to perform a physical on Brogdon, thus backing out of the deal for him.

In the immediate aftermath of this, Celtics GM Brad Stevens had to go to his “Plan-B” which completed a three-team trade that landed Kristaps Porrzingis in Boston but it would cost Marcus Smart who was sent to Memphis as part of this deal. This deal was surprising to everyone, including Smart, who didn’t know this was happening until it was complete.

“It was definitely shocking to find out that way, especially because the week before I was already told that we were good and there were no trade talks for me and I was good, so we weren’t expecting that.”

Although it was Smart, the longest tenured player on the Celtics, Brogdon was upset to learn that he was the first player Boston tried to part ways with in the offseason. Stevens talked about what went into that difficult decision and that it “wasn’t fair” for Brogdon to have to go through that situation.

“Malcolm’s really important and that really, that was tough. He certainly doesn’t deserve that, and I feel for him. We’ve talked obviously since then. There are a lot of narratives out there because of that that are certainly inaccurate. That’s the other part, like being in the rumors and stuff, that stinks. We’ve talked about it, that’s hard.”

It’s been nearly three months since the attempted trade and we haven’t heard anything from Brogdon, which Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe finds to be concerning as the team heads into camp in only a few weeks with their first game being right around the corner on Oct. 18.

Washburn explains his concerns during an episode of the Celtics Beat podcast on CLNS:

“Malcolm’s the one I’m concerned about too since we’ve heard nothing and he’s angry with the team.. so I don’t think communication between the two sides have been fruitful.”

This is a unique situation as Boston needs Brogdon more than ever after they traded Smart. He’s likely to be coming off the bench for the second straight year for the Celtics and to be the immediate backup for starting point guard Derrick White. 

One thing is for certain and it’s that Brogdon is the ultimate professional and it’s hard to believe he’ll allow something like this to bleed into the regular season and become a distraction to the team. 

That is not Brogdon’s style or how he handles his business. He’s definitely upset with the organization but he’s not going to make that impact his teammates in a negative way. 

As Stevens said, I expect Brogdon to be back and ready to start the season with Boston while being fully committed to winning a championship this season.

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