Three-team trade sending Kristaps Porzingis to Celtics, Malcolm Brogdon to Clippers and Marcus Morris, draft picks to Wizards gets axed

Update, 10:30 p.m. ET — The deal has been axed, and talks have fallen apart. All sides are moving on. Porzingis remains a Wizard, Brogdon remains a Celtic and Morris remains a Clipper. LA retains the No. 30 overall pick in the draft.

Update, 4:35 p.m. ET — The previously reported deal is close to being completed. Porzingis will go to Boston, Morris and draft picks will go to Washington and Brogdon will go to Los Angeles.

Update, 2:56 p.m. ET — The Celtics, Wizards and Los Angeles Clippers are now talking a deal that would send Porzingis to Boston, per Shams. The Wizards would retain Marcus Morris while Brogdon would go to the Clippers.

It looks like the Celtics are dead-set on acquiring Porzingis, which feels like a perplexing move. Boston had acquired Brogdon before last season and jumped to favorites to win the title. That didn’t come to fruition and now the Celtics are essentially dumping Brogdon to add the stretch big.

Porzingis has a player option for $36 million in 2023-24, which he should opt in to. Porzingis could also opt out and hit unrestricted free agency, but Washington is OK negotiating a trade to recoup assets rather than lose Porzingis for nothing. It’s also unclear what Porzingis would command on the open market, likely less than his option.

The Celtics were unable to reach the NBA Finals again this season despite lofty expectations. Instead, Boston fell to the Miami Heat, who eventually fell to the Nuggets in the Finals. Porzingis would join a core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Robert Williams, depending on who is dealt in the trade. Porzingis would give Boston another scoring option behind Tatum, but it feels like more of the same.

The Wizards just reportedly sent SG Bradley Beal to the Phoenix Suns for just about nothing. Porzingis leaving clears the way for a full rebuild. Kyle Kuzma has a player option for $13 million, which he’ll undoubtedly opt out of to hit the open market. With Beal, Porzingis and Kuzma gone, the Wizards will need contracts to fill out the roster but can give plenty of minutes to young players.

The Boston Celtics have reached out to the Washington Wizards regarding a potential trade for Kristaps Porzingis, according to Shams Charania. The Wizards have started to rebuild their roster after agreeing to a Bradley Beal trade, and Porzingis is going to be on the block. He is expected to opt into his $36 million player option, which means that’ll be the number the Wizards will work with for trade purposes.

The Wizards might not see Porzingis as a surefire trade candidate as he’s young enough to potentially be effective once this rebuild ends, but he likely doesn’t want to stick around for it. The Celtics have plenty of contracts to aggregate in a Porzingis, with Robert Williams, Marcus Smart and Danilo Gallinari all candidates to headline a return package to Washington. Malcolm Brogdon is also a candidate to be dealt after his struggles in the Eastern Conference finals against the Heat.

We’ll see if any further materializes on this front once Porzingis officially opts into his player option for the 2023-24 season.