The Washington Wizards are set for a showdown against the Boston Celtics on Friday night looking to snap their nine-game losing streak.
Ahead of the matchup, it begins to bring up the history between the Celtics and Wizards. Between big games, upset wins, playoff series and even past trades, it's fun to look in the past and analyze certain scenarios between the two historic franchises.
However, one of the more recent and interesting topics in recent memory is the trade that nearly happened before crumbling down at the last minute.
Wizards-Celtics trade centered around Kristaps Porzingis
Two offseasons ago, the Wizards had one of the most coveted trade pieces on the market in big man Kristaps Porzingis. The Latvian star was coming off a career season in Washington where he averaged 23.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2,7 assists across 65 games while shooting 49.8% from field goal range and 38.5% from beyond the arc.
In addition to his impressive season on the offensive side of the ball, Porzingis also put together a solid year defensively averaging 1.5 blocks per game and just under one steal per game with 0.9
As a result, the Celtics viewed the versatile 7-footer as the missing piece for them to make a championship run. Boston emerged as a suitor for Porzingis and quickly the two sides agreed to a trade that would require a third team to get it done.
Originally, the Celtics and Wizards agreed to a trade that included the Los Angeles Clippers. The Celtics would have received Porzingis, the Clippers would have received Malcolm Brogdon and the Wizards would land a mix of players and draft capital to get the deal done.
However, after the Celtics realized that the Clippers weren't going to get Brogdon's physical done in time to finalize the trade, they pivoted to a deal with the Grizzlies that allowed them to keep Brogdon for the time. The pivot was required due to Porzingis' player-option deadline that the big man would have to opt into prior to get the deal done.
Following the failed trade attempt of Brogdon, the team's relationship with the veteran guard became fractured which ultimately led to the reigning Sixth Man of the Year being dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers in a package to acquire Jrue Holiday.
Nonetheless, it all seemed to come around full circle because the Virginia product was dealt to the Wizards in the offseason; the team Brogdon said was a dream landing spot all along.