NBA Trade Rumors: Nerlens Noel To Celtics, Marcus Smart To 76ers

NBA trade rumors indicate that Philadelphia 76ers center Nerlens Noel is on his way out of the City of Brotherly Love. The saga began when the Sixers stockpiled too many quality big men, but things have taken a turn for the worst as Noel’s playing time has dipped, and he has gone public with his complaints about not being a bigger part of the team. Head coach Brett Brown recently talked to CSN Philly about Nerlens Noel’s decision to take his beef to the media.

“He’s highly competitive, he’s in a very unusual situation,” Brown said. “The fact that it came out as soon as it did caught me off guard. We’ve discussed it and I’ll be surprised if everybody’s not seeing how we all need to handle this better going forward.”

Fox Sports published a piece that suggests Nerlens Noel would be a solution to the Boston Celtics’ search for a big man who can rebound and block shots. It’s no secret that Celtics general manager Danny Ainge wants to make a deal, but according to a report by CBS Boston, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski feels that Boston is overvaluing their own players when discussing potential trades with other teams, and he specifically mentioned point guard Marcus Smart as an example.

“Boston’s interesting. They have some good young players, they have draft picks that they can put in deals and they have some veterans that hold some interest in places. I do wonder, sometimes, if Boston might overvalue some of the players they have compared to what the rest of the league sees in them. I think Marcus Smart might be starting to fall into that category. His name has been in some talks previously, and they’ve been pretty careful about who they’d give him up for.”

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Current NBA trade rumors are swirling that the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers may have a deal in the works. The scenario that is being discussed online is a simple one-for-one swap: Nerlens Noel for Marcus Smart. The ESPN NBA Trade Machine verifies that this would be a legal transaction under NBA rules, so it would be a legitimate proposal from the league’s point of view.

The Boston Celtics would ideally like to acquire a star center, but they have not been able to secure that type of deal at this point. Nerlens Noel is a player who has skills the Celtics could use, and many NBA observers believe he has star potential. It would have been much harder to obtain Noel a few weeks ago, but now that he is playing very little and voicing his complaints to the media, his trade value has dropped significantly, and Boston would not have to give up very much if they choose to pursue Noel.

The Philadelphia 76ers are now in a tough position with Nerlens Noel — everyone knows they are trying to trade him, and the longer this saga goes on, the more Noel’s stock will fall. Marcus Smart has been a disappointment since coming into the league as the sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, and at one time, there is no way the Sixers would have considered trading Noel for Smart straight-up. However, things have changed, and Philadelphia isn’t going to get much in a deal for Nerlens Noel if they wait any longer. Point guard is also an area of need for the 76ers, particularly since Jerryd Bayless is now out for the season with a wrist injury.

The latest NBA trade rumors are promoting the possibility of a swap between the Celtics and 76ers involving Nerlens Noel and Marcus Smart. This would be a relatively cheap way for Boston to obtain a good young center who could become a star performer in time. Philadelphia is running out of options with Noel, and getting a player with Marcus Smart’s talent and potential might be their best bet and allow them to finally cut their losses with the disgruntled Nerlens Noel.

[Featured Image by Chris Szagola/AP Images]