Celtics closing in on Kristaps Porziņģis in 3-team trade with Wizards ...

By Shams Charania, Jared Weiss, Josh Robbins, Law Murray and Jay King

The Wizards, Celtics and Clippers are close to completing a three-team trade that would send Kristaps Porziņģis to Boston, Marcus Morris and draft compensation including the No. 30 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft to Washington and Malcolm Brogdon to Los Angeles, league sources told The Athletic.

Sides are still working through details and Porzingis’ $36 million player option for next season.

The deal is considered a “high possibility” according to a league source briefed on the negotiations. Boston would also need to send out additional salary, with Danilo Gallinari’s expiring $6.8 million closing the gap to reach the salary matching threshold.

The Wizards have shown interest in bringing Porziņģis back but have also been notified of several teams interested in the 7-foot-3 big man. Washington acquired Porziņģis in February 2022. He averaged a career-high 23.2 points last season, along with 8.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 32.6 minutes per game.

Morris, 33, averaged 11.2 points and four rebounds a contest for Los Angeles. Brogdon, 30, did not make a start last season for the first time in his career. He scored 14.9 points with 4.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists a night.

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

Why the Wizards are moving Porziņģis

Ever since the Wizards agreed to trade Bradley Beal, it’s been obvious that the franchise’s new decision-makers want to rebuild. The follow-up question has been: How low do Michael Winger and Will Dawkins want to go? Do they want to go all the way down to the studs?

A trade involving Porziņģis certainly indicates that tearing the roster down to the studs is the direction that Wizards’ brass wants to take.

When the Wizards agreed to trade Beal, the return to the Wizards was limited in terms of draft capital that could jump-start a rebuild. A three-team trade involving Porziņģis should be able to provide some further draft capital.

For the Wizards to be able to trade Porziņģis right now, Porziņģis first would have to exercise his player option for the 2023-24 season. The option is worth $36 million.

Today is the deadline for Porziņģis to exercise that player option, which in part explains the urgency to get this trade done.

The other reason for the urgency: The 2023 NBA Draft will be held Thursday night, and obtaining further draft capital in a Porziņģis trade — depending on what that draft capital would be — would give the Wizards the ability to use it on draft night or repackage it in an attempt to move up in the draft.

Porziņģis has been well-liked by teammates, coaches and team officials ever since the Wizards traded for him in February 2022. He’s had a positive influence on his young teammates, most notably forward Deni Avdija.

Porziņģis made clear last season that he enjoyed playing in Washington and would be happy to remain with the franchise on the right long-term deal. But much has changed since the end of the season, including the firing of president and general manager Tommy Sheppard, the hiring of Winger, Dawkins and Travis Schlenk and the trade of Beal. Porziņģis has not commented about those substantial changes, but it’s not out of the question that he would not have interest in participating in a rebuild.

A trade to Boston would allow him to compete for a championship. It also would convey his Bird rights to Boston, which then would have freedom to go further over the cap to re-sign him or extend his contract.

It should also be noted that any deal that sends Malcolm Brogdon to the Clippers would seemingly eliminate the Clippers as a potential destination for the Wizards to reroute Chris Paul, who is one of the outgoing Suns players in the Beal trade. — Robbins

What Porziņģis would add to Boston

The Celtics will be taking a risk on Porziņģis, who has dealt with injuries throughout his career. With only one year left on his contract, assuming he opts in to facilitate this trade, he could potentially leave as a free agent next offseason. Assuming the cost isn’t too big, he would still make a lot of sense in Boston. He would give the Celtics more lineup options in the frontcourt. He would allow them to play bigger lineups more consistently. He would give them a consistent source of low-post scoring. And he would do all that without forcing the Celtics to sacrifice much of the outside shooting that made them so difficult to stop this past season. — King

Brogdon’s fit in LA

There are many layers to a possible Clippers acquisition for Brogdon. As far as the fit goes, the Clippers have always monitored Brogdon since his pre-draft process in 2016, interviewing him at the combine and bringing him in for a workout; the Clippers wound up using a first-round pick on Brice Johnson instead, one of the more regrettable selections of the Doc Rivers-led front office. Brogdon has since blossomed into a Rookie of the Year and a Sixth Man of the Year.

The upside to Brogdon as he enters his eighth NBA season is the same as it’s always been: he’s a huge guard (6-foot-4, 229 pounds) capable of playing all three perimeter positions due to his blend of size, skill, and willingness to defend. Brogdon has long arms, large hands, and plays under control. He shoots at a high level: 48.4/44.4/87.0, with a 3.7-to-1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio.

The downside to Brogdon is one that makes him almost too much of a fit in the current Clippers syndrome: He’s going to be 31 in December, his durability is an annual question, he’s had multiple postseasons shortened by injury, his athleticism is approaching the cliff, and he’s on the hook for $22.5 million in each of the next two seasons. Brogdon also does not force turnovers, so he would not help the Clippers in one of their areas of weakness defensively.

Acquiring Brogdon makes the Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook questions interesting. Would the Clippers still try to acquire Paul via trade? Paul is 38 years old, and will be 39 next May in the playoffs; the only point guards playing more than 15 minutes per game in NBA postseason history at that age were John Stockton, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Derek Fisher, and Jason Terry. And only Fisher, Terry, and Kidd, in reduced and wholly ineffective roles, were on teams that won a playoff series at that age and position. Brogdon makes more practical sense in terms of acquiring a playmaking guard to play with Leonard and George. But it also means only one of Paul or Westbrook could be signed on a minimum deal too, and it would appear the Clippers would prefer to wait on Paul before making a decision with Westbrook.

The Clippers trading Morris ends a four-year tenure where Morris was paid and expected to produce like the third-best player on the team as a starting forward next to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Morris certainly had his moments where he helped the Clippers, such as his postseason run in 2021 where he guarded much larger players while hitting a high percentage of his 3s and the 2022-23 season where Morris was a primary scoring option with Leonard and George missing in action. Morris has been a physical presence in the lineup at power forward.

But Morris’ already adequate athleticism evaporated further over the last three years. By last season, Morris was one of the least active starters in the NBA in terms of steal, block, and offensive rebound rates. And Morris’ shooting, while not a liability, was no longer good enough to justify his complete absence in other areas of the floor. While Robert Covington was essentially mothballed repeatedly this past season, it took until late March for the Clippers to finally adjust Morris’ role under the cover of health and safety protocols and back spasms. Trading Morris, who has one year left on his deal, removes the possibility of overplaying him again next season.

But it also opens up what was already the biggest positional issue on the team, as neither Covington or Nicolas Batum would be an ideal starter at this point of their careers. Even after this trade, the Clippers have more work to do in their starting lineup. — Murray

Backstory

In March, The Athletic reported Porziņģis and the Wizards were in talks about a contract extension in which Porziņģis would opt out of his player option for the 2023-24 season and sign a new long-term deal. The Wizards can offer Porziņģis a maximum of four years and $180 million if he opts out for next year and extends his deal.

The Celtics fell into a 0-3 hole in this year’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat before rallying their way back to force a Game 7. Miami defeated Boston 103-84 to advance to the Finals. Boston last reached the Finals in 2022, losing to the Warriors in six games.

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(Photo: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)