Marcus Smart to Dubs for the 2020 No. 2 pick is likely a bad deal for all

Should the Boston Celtics entertain dealing Marcus Smart to the Warriors in exchange for the No. 2 pick of the 2020 NBA Draft? At least one prominent basketball voice might.

For some reason, The Ringer’s head honcho Bill Simmons really wants to trade a player he ostensibly loves.

In this most recent iteration of “never-trade-Marcus-Smart-except-maybe-for-this,” the Ringer chief waffled again, seriously considering moving the Flower Mound native and the Boston Celtics’ No. 14 pick of the 2020 NBA Draft for the Golden State Warriors’ No. 2 pick in a conversation with former employee and ESPN analyst Zach Lowe on the “Lowe Post” podcast.

“So Golden State calls Boston, and they really want Marcus Smart. And … can fit him in [their] trade exception,” began Simmons.

Taking on the role of an imaginary Warriors front office member, he continued.

“‘We’ll offer [pick] No. 2 for Marcus and the [14th pick];’ what does Boston do? I’m on the record saying they can never trade Marcus Smart, I love Marcus Smart. But, if you’re the Celtics, this is a chance to get a potential multi-time All-Star player on a team with Jaylen [Brown] and [Jayson] Tatum.”

Lowe paused, and replied with heresy for the ears of most Celtics fans.

“I think Boston should probably do that. My guess is that Golden State would probably view that as selling low on No. 2.”

The most glaring problem with this plan is that it removes one of the team’s few seasoned veterans just at the moment the Celtics hope to contend.

That it does it for a player who would likely at best be able to provide backup minutes off of the bench and probably none of the defense that helped place the Celtics in the league’s top five last season makes it even more

“[I]f you’re Golden State, you could argue that’s where you find the Bam Adebayo; that’s where you find the Tyler Herro. That’s where you find the Donovan Mitchell; now we’re in range with the 14th pick.” countered Simmons, and he might be right — eventually.

Inn one of the weakest drafts in years in terms of star power, that’s not a small risk to take, particularly given the known quantity we have in Smart.

Would it make sense for the Celtics to swap out the pick for the smaller cap hit? Smart is currently slated to earn a hair under $13 million next season, and the No. 2 pick will make in the neighborhood of $7.6 million according to Real GM.

While the $5.4 million savings next season won’t get you much now, the long-term savings on Boston’s tax bill might appeal to the team’s ownership group.

On the cusp of paying Jaylen Brown his first big paycheck while cutting a blank check for Jayson Tatum the season after, by the time the league’s repeater tax rolls around, it could be something they seriously consider.

Another good question raised in part by Lowe is whether the Dubs would even be interested-

“‘We’ve been studying this draft for six months'” said Simmons, again putting on the Warriors’ front office mantle. “We have Marcus, now we have a crunch-time guy; we can go to crunch time with Draymond [Green], Marcus, [Steph] Curry, [Klay] Thompson and [Andrew] Wiggins. Defensively, I can switch on everything.”

However, defense isn’t everything in this game, as Lowe pointed out.

“You do have to be a little careful about if you’re keeping Wiggins and you have Draymond Green,” he observed, “the other guys have to be able to shoot.”

“Marcus Smart can now shoot, but can he shoot-shoot? With a capitol “S” shoot? He can’t, in terms of like is he scaring people when he shoots 3s. Sometimes, he’s scaring the Celtics when he shoots 3s, some of the 3s he takes.”

Heat-check Marcus is indeed a polarizing force, even among his most ardent supporters.

But, it’s worth pointing out that that side of the Texan guard only seemed to show up when nothing else was working – with enough exceptions that we’re still talking about them.

There are merits to the idea of dealing away Smart, but perhaps the biggest against such a plan is that you’d be ripping out the heart and soul of the team as currently constructed.

And for a team that relied as heavily on playing together as Boston did this season, that could be a mistake it could take some time to fix.

We’ll pass on the proposal, but it’s one that might re-emerge in the next season as those fiscal costs mount; should the Oklahoma State product not improve his shot selection (and heat checks) in critical stretches

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