Brad Stevens is kicking off the Fourth of July weekend with some Celtics fireworks.
Boston is acquiring guard Malcolm Brogdon in a trade with the Indianapolis Pacers, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Friday. Boston is sending Daniel Theis, Aaron Nesmith and a 2023 first-round pick, per Wojnarowski.
Brogdon can play both guard positions, and he brings another bona fide scoring option to the Celtics. The 29-year-old scored 19.1 points per game and dished out 5.9 assists per contest in 36 games last season. Brogdon has averaged just more than 15 points and nearly five assists per game in six seasons split between Milwaukee and Indiana.
It’s worth noting Brogdon has played anything resembling a full season just once since Milwaukee drafted him in the second round out of Virginia in 2016. Brogdon is signed through the 2024-25 season and is owed just under $68 million over the next three seasons.
It’s hard to argue with the price paid by the Celtics, either. Theis proved to be a defensive liability in the playoffs — and Boston might already have a replacement in line — and Nesmith hadn’t shown much of the supposed talent or potential that made him a 2020 first-round pick. And while first-round selections are theoretically valuable, Boston should win no fewer than 50 or 55 games next season, meaning that 2023 pick will be near the bottom of the first round.
The next question is where there’s another shoe to drop. If Brogdon is brought in to be a point guard, that means the Celtics now have four players at the position: Brogdon, Marcus Smart, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard.
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