Boston's Marcus Smart trade was a necessary evil

In the late hours of June 21, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the Boston Celtics were trading Marcus Smart as part of a three-team trade for Kristaps Porzingis. Earlier in the day, Malcolm Brogdon was the guard being floated as the potential makeweight. However, the LA Clippers reportedly pulled out of the deal due to concerns over Brogdon's injury status. 

Boston chose to continue pursuing a Porzingis trade, finding themselves having to make a tough decision. In came the Memphis Grizzlies, offering draft picks to Boston and Tyus Jones to the Washington Wizards. The trade was confirmed a few hours later.

A quick scroll through Twitter, and you will find a Celtics fanbase that is distraught. Not only did the team trade away its emotional leader, but in return received a potential one-year rental with a significant injury history. Look a little bit closer, though, and you will see that Boston also got the best player in the trade and two first-round draft picks. 

With the new Collective Bargaining Agreement looming over teams, tough decisions will be made across the NBA. Smart has three years remaining on his $76 million deal and began to show signs of decline last season. Trading away your veteran leader, who has been with the team since being drafted, is never easy. 

However, getting back an All-Star forward coming off a career season is an exceptional return. Furthermore, Smart may have been a culture setter for Boston, but that culture continued to display the same fundamental issues year after year. 

When an opportunity arises to add a third star at the expense of a high-level rotation player, you make that move. If that move also nets you draft picks, then it quickly becomes a no-brainer. Boston now has an additional scorer who can soak up some non-Jayson Tatum minutes, an issue that blighted them last season. The goal is a championship, and that leaves no room for sentiment. It's time to tip your cap to Smart, and start looking ahead to a new Big-3 era in the TD Garden, however short-lived that era may be.