Marcus Smart: A look at the money and ethics of his trade from Boston

 I certainly get that the current NBA is "Big Business", and as such, there will always be a battle between the teams making more money and the ethics surrounding any transactions. The essential deal that sent Marcus Smart packing and brought Kristaps Porzingis to Boston seems to have been a positive transaction for the Celtics, but it has put some hurt on a guy that Red Auerbach would have loved.

For Smart, it wasn't the trade itself - but the way it went down that took a toll on him:

“If I’m being quite frank, I knew I would be traded eventually,” Smart said. “Just figured it would be the next season, just based off my contract and with the new CBA. We already knew that. But it was just the way it happened. I was told everything was good after asking multiple times. Like, ‘I’m hearing (rumors), what’s going on?’ And they’re like, ‘No, you’re good, you’re good, you’re good.’ And then when I do hear about the trade, it’s from Shams (Charania) on Twitter before I hear from the team.”

This happens constantly in the League. A player is told that no talk of a trade is taking place, and then the individual hears or reads of a transaction via the media - as opposed to learning of it from the team. It is obvious in these cases that the teams involved want to take no chance that the deal will be aborted.

To me, "ETHICS" means the most good - for the most people - for the longest time. The Celtics and their fans may see an improved team this season resulting from this deal, but there are always victims. Marcus Smart did not deserve the way this was handled, and now I will have to explain to my great grandson, Carson Thomas Lane, what happened - and why his hero is no longer a member of the Boston Celtics.