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Less than a day after trading Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers, the Boston Celtics made another deal. In a three-team deal involving the Atlanta Hawks and the Brooklyn Nets, the Celtics offloaded Kristaps Porzingis. In return, Boston received Georges Niang while Terance Mann and the No. 22 pick in this year's NBA Draft went to Brooklyn.
The move was a necessity for the Celtics, whose payroll was simply too much to justify. However, Boston now has some flexibility when it comes to their bottom line moving forward. Despite the trade, Celtics guard Jaylen Brown is still in trade rumors as teams try to pry Boston's secondary star away from them.
Here are our trade grades for the Porzingis deal for the Hawks and Celtics.
Atlanta Hawks: A-
Entering the offseason, the Hawks had a $25 million trade exception they wanted to use. After a disappointing season in 2024-25, Atlanta has some big holes to fill. One of them was their center spot. Onyeka Okongwu replaced Clint Capela in the starting lineup after an injury took him out for a stretch. However, the spacing left Trae Young having to do a lot of heavy lifting offensively.
To bring in Porzingis and only give up Mann and Niang and a draft pick is a fantastic outcome. The former NBA champion projects to be another premier pick-and-roll partner alongside Young. While Okongwu continues to develop his outside jumper, the seven-footer can operate as a floor spacer and shot blocker alongside him.
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While Porzingis' health is a question mark at this point in his career, he is well worth the risk. His arrival also helps keep Young in Atlanta as the team shuts down rumors surrounding their star. A starting five featuring Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson, and Porzingis is a well-balanced defensive monster.
Boston Celtics: B-
This is the second Celtics trade made out of necessity, not desire. All eyes are on Boston, which needs to cut its payroll in order to avoid the second apron and put themselves in position to rebound into contention when Jayson Tatum returns. That being said, their return is far less than they would have liked.
Georges Niang can play off of Joe Mazzulla's bench, but doesn't come close to replacing Porzingis' absence. If there wasn't enough already, this move puts even more pressure on Al Horford to hold down the middle of the Celtics' defense. The 39-year-old might be the last rotational big left on Boston's roster next season if they don't retain Luke Kornet.
At the end of the day, Boston's moves to add Holiday and Porzingis had the desired result. The Celtics won a title behind one of the most dominant starting fives in modern NBA history. However, the bill came due and Boston simply could not accept going that far into the luxury tax without their First Team All-NBA forward.
