Celtics trade Kristaps Porzingis for Georges Niang
The Celtics trade away Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks for Georges Niang and a second-round pick. This trade is certainly not as fun as the Jrue Holiday trade, with both assets the Celtics received likely being used in another trade, but ultimately it had to happen.
This move will now get the Celtics under the second apron, with Niang costing $8.2 million, as opposed to the $30.7 million that Porzingis was going to get. While there is still some work to do, this is a step in the right direction for getting under the aprons.
Porzingis, while limited in 2024, was a vital piece in the team's championship run. In the regular season he averaged 20 points shot 51/37 splits with 2 blocks per game, which helped the Celtics run a historic offense. While he was not extremely impactful in the playoffs, his game 1 dominance will never be forgotten by fans, logging 11 points and 2 blocks just in the first quarter, setting the tone for the game and series.
Sadly, this would be the high point of his tenure, was he struggled to play consistently and be impactful the rest of the series. He made his return in late November but was never able to stay on the floor consistently. Nagging injuries, and the mysterious virus sidelined him consistently, and led to his performance in the playoffs drop off so dramatically.
In the first round against the Magic, Porzingis was all over the place, but still had some moments of his old self, but the Knicks series was when the bottom came out, and ended his time in Boston. Porzingis averaged just 4 points on 24/22 shooting splits in 15 minutes a game, a number that is still questioned by fans.
With Tatum and Brown struggling to find consistency and the teams three point shot experiencing such volatility, the team needed an inside prescence to settle things down, and Porzingis couldn't offer anything, being a -24 in the series, and being a -9 or worse in 3 games, despite playing such limited minutes.
Even if the team repeated as champions, it was incredibly unlikely the roster would have stayed the same, with the team's age, injuries, and cost of the team, but the way the Knicks series played out made a trade like this an easy choice, even if the return was next to nothing.
With Porzingis gone and Al Horford on his way out, the Celtics will need to search for a big man in free agency. The 2026 season will be a retool season for the team, and it sucks to see the team get broken up so quickly, but every fan in Boston will always appreciate what Jrue and Kristaps brought to the city in the 2024 season.