Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens had the unenviable task of telling Kristaps Porzingis he had been traded to the Atlanta Hawks.
Stevens called Porzingis with the news but there was only one issue: Porzingis didn’t pick up his phone.
“It’s never easy,” Stevens told reporters Tuesday from the Auerbach Center, per Jack Simone of Hardwood Houdini. “Well, Porzingis was asleep, and by the time he woke up, I was asleep. But he knew he was probably going to get traded, so I think he was OK.”
Rumors swirled before the Celtics even reached the offseason that they could move on from both Porzingis and Jrue Holiday in an effort to get under the second apron — the two are set to make a combined $63.1 million next season.
That came to fruition as the Celtics traded Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers for Anfernee Simons a day before they dealt away Porzingis for Georges Niang and a second-round pick.
But according to Stevens, neither Porzingis nor Holiday were blindsided by being traded with Boston choosing to dismantle a championship-caliber roster for financial reasons.
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“I actually talked to both those guys a couple of weeks before and just said, ‘Listen, there’s a chance that you’re back, but there’s also a chance that you’re not,'” Stevens said.
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