Malcolm Brogdon was supposed to be the one traded away for Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics to acquire Kristaps Porzingis. All of that changed when the Los Angeles Clippers backed out due to the Sixth Man of the Year's injury concerns. His name has now been on the rumor mill once again. But, will his future be with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown?

Malcolm Brogdon was essential to the success of the Celtics as much as Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were. This is why Brad Stevens' trade proposal to the Clipper raised eyebrows when it dropped. A league source finally cleared the air on the Boston front office's decision, via Steve Bulpett of Heavy.

“They didn’t want to move him in the first place. They really like Malcolm. But they had to balance out their roster. They didn’t want to go into another season having to rely so heavily on (Robert) Williams and (Al) Horford. They had a bit of a logjam in the backcourt, and they really needed some insurance up front,” they disclosed.

The insider also discussed what it meant when the Celtics' bench spark plug went down mid-playoffs due to injuries.

“He was huge for them all year. They’d go to the bench, and Brogdon would make sure the offense would keep coming. They had good depth, but he ran that second unit. Even when something broke down, he’d drive or stick a 3. They got into some of their old iso habits in the playoffs, and it really hurt them when Brogdon wasn’t able to come in and hold the fort like he’d been doing,” they concluded.

The Celtics' backcourt is going to get as heavy as their frontcourt come next season. Will this Brad Stevens roster be enough to push for Banner 18?