Did The Jazz Influence The Kristaps Porzingis Celtics Trade?
It turns out that the Celtics hit some shot clock cheese when it comes to the Kristaps Porzingis trade. There was a midnight deadline on June 21st for Porzingis to opt into his contract. Had Porzignis not opted in, he just may have landed with the Utah Jazz at the start of free agency.
NBA insider Marc Stein has reported that Utah was preparing a mega offer to Porzingis had he reached free agency.
“Along the way I heard from multiple rival teams that were convinced Porziņģis, had he not landed with the Celtics, was poised to receive strong free agent interest from Utah had he elected to decline his $36 million player option for next season before Wednesday’s midnight deadline,” Stein wrote.
Three things here:
A: This probably helped the Celtics in trade talks. It was either get something or lose Porzingis for nothing. Washington ultimately ended up with Tyus Jones and pick 35 in the 2023 NBA Draft. Not the worst outcome.
B: It was obviously reported the first time that Malcolm Brogdon was in the trade. The teams could have pushed the opt out date back for Porzingis but it’s clear Brad Stevens didn’t want to wait. Once the Clippers became wary of Malcolm Brogdon’s injury, the fear of Danny Ainge lurking was motivation to get this trade done as quickly as possible. Stevens was obviously willing to include Smart in the deal instead. Boston also collected draft ammo that they didn’t get in the first trade.
C: Can you imagine the Utah front court had they landed Porzingis? Add Porzingis to Walker Kessler and Lauri Markkanen? That would have been electric.
