NBA Hoops

Marcus Smart nearly dealt to Rockets in 2019 for Clint Capela

Marcus Smart nearly dealt to Rockets in 2019 for Clint Capela

The Boston Celtics are set to take the floor to battle the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals, but if a trade that reportedly fell apart because of the order players were taken had actually gone down, the ripple effect would have removed at least one of the players on the Celtics’ roster right now.

That player would be veteran point guard Marcus Smart, who may have missed being a Houston Rocket when Brandon Clarke was drafted one player higher than the pick the Celtics used to draft Tennessee product Grant Williams at 22 instead. It’s possible that Williams might still have been around for Boston to pick up with the No. 33 pick had they found some other way to entice the Philadelphia 76ers or some other team in that range to part with a draft pick.

But it’s also very possible that neither Smart nor Grant — and with them, the Celtics — would have been in this NBA Finals had the deal gone through.

Revealed in greater detail than the loosest of outlines of the proposed deal known prior to the article in which Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer brought to light Smart’s inclusion with the No. 22 pick, we know also know what might have been headed back in the other direction, courtesy of Fischer.

“In 2019, when Jazz CEO of basketball operations Danny Ainge was still the president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics, they held serious draft night trade discussions with the Houston Rockets about acquiring Clint Capela for Marcus Smart and the No. 22 pick, sources told B/R.”

“The agreed-in-principle deal ultimately fell short, but the Rockets were targeting Brandon Clarke before the Memphis Grizzlies swept in to steal the Gonzaga product at No. 21,” added the B/R analyst.

Such a deal could have radically transformed Boston’s fortunes with no Al Horford reunion likely with Capela on the roster and would have had a ripple effect with the other teams involved.

The Rockets’ current state might be very different with the shift to Smart in their backcourt, and the Grizzlies would clearly be a different team as well.

Ultimately, such counterfactuals are meaningless in the grander scheme of things in the NBA, but it does make for an interesting ‘what if’ given just how well the Celtics are doing as currently constructed.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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