Marcus Smart is on his third team in three years since the Boston Celtics traded him in June 2023 — and he could be on the move again.
After acquiring CJ McCollum, Cam Whitmore, Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley in a pair of trades, the Washington Wizards currently have 17 players under contract for the 2025-26 season. The roster limit is 15, so Washington will need to release or trade at least two players before the start of the season.
And Smart is a prime candidate for the Wizards to move.
The 31-year-old guard is on an expiring contract with a $21.6 million cap hit for 2025-26 — third-highest on the team behind Khris Middleton and McCollum — and Washington has a crowded backcourt that includes McCollum, talented young guard Bub Carrington and 2025 first-round pick Tre Johnson, in addition to Branham and Wesley.
So, it would make sense for a rebuilding team like the Wizards to see what it can get for Smart on the trade market while handing the backcourt keys to McCollum, Carrington and Johnson.
It appears there’s at least initial interest in Smart’s services; Anthony Irwin of ClutchPoints recently reported the Los Angeles Lakers have had “preliminary conversations” about Smart’s availability and price tag, while the New York Post’s Stefon Bondy reports the New York Knicks are “monitoring the situation” with Smart, who also could be bought out and signed as a free agent if no trade materializes.
All of which begs the question: Should the Celtics enter the Smart sweepstakes and consider reuniting with the beloved guard who spent his first nine seasons in Boston?
If Smart isn’t bought out, the logical pathway to Boston would be a trade involving Anfernee Simons, who’s making $27.7 million on an expiring contract. While the Celtics could use Simons’ scoring with Jayson Tatum sidelined, Smart could help replace some of the defensive grit lost with Jrue Holiday and likely would embrace the team’s underdog mentality entering this season. Replacing Smart with Simons also would save Boston $6.1 million in cap space and help the team get under the second apron of the luxury tax.
That all sounds good on paper, and Celtics fans undoubtedly would love seeing Smart back in green and white. But the reality is that a Smart reunion doesn’t make much sense for Boston at this stage.
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For starters, the Wizards’ aforementioned backcourt logjam means they likely wouldn’t be eager to take back Simons in a trade. The Celtics could get a third team involved, but if there’s an easier deal to be made with a team like Los Angeles or New York, Washington might take it.
If Smart is bought out, the C’s in theory could sign him to a low-cost contract. But if Simons is still on the roster in addition to guards Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and rookie Hugo Gonzalez, it would make more sense for Boston to improve its frontcourt depth — Neemias Queta and Luka Garza are the team’s top two big men at the moment — than add another guard.
Smart made an immense impact during his nine-year tenure with the Celtics. But president of basketball operations Brad Stevens needs to focus on the future, and from a pure basketball perspective, there are better uses of his resources.
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