NBA

Malcolm Brogdon reveals he chose Celtics over Raptors

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Joe Lyons
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Joe Lyons Sports Editor

Joe Lyons is a sports betting writer with years of experience on reputable sports and gambling websites SportsLens, The Sports Daily and Business2Community. Joe has also been published by Nottingham Forest FC, working with the academy and senior teams to produce content on matchdays. He formerly covered the Premier League and EFL as an on-site reporter during the 2020/21 season for Prost International. He is an expert in a range of sports including soccer, basketball, darts and American football. Joe specialises in long form SEO content alongside news, tips and betting. His sports betting work can be found on SportsLens and The Sports Daily. Joe has a keen eye for the sports betting industry in the USA which covers the NBA and NFL, tracking and analysing the market as it changes throughout the season.

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Updated11 hours ago on April 19, 2024

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Malcolm Brogdon has revealed he was offered a choice of which team he would be traded to this summer – the Boston Celtics or Toronto Raptors.

In a deal that very few could have foreseen, Malcolm Brogdon was traded in July from the Indiana Pacers to Boston Celtics in a package involving Aaron Nesmith, Daniel Theis, Malik Fitts, Juwan Morgan, Nik Stauskas, and a first-round pick.

Brogdon, 29, won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2017 and is considered to be a borderline All-Star caliber player. The Atlanta-born guard is a member of the prestigious 50-40-90 club, achieving the feat in 2019.

Averaging 19.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game for the Pacers last season, if the number seven can stay healthy this could become one of the biggest steals in league history – especially if Boston can replicate last season’s success with another trip to the finals.

Speaking to Sirius XM radio last week, Brogdon confirmed he chose the Celtics because they were ‘farther along’.

“The opportunity came up for me to move on from the Pacers,” Brogdon said. “They worked with me great, allowing me to have a say in my transition, where I would go based on what the interest was.”

“At the end of the day, we knew there was Boston, we knew Toronto we knew DC,” Brogdon said of his trade options. “DC fell off after the draft since they were thinking about trading that 10th pick for me. Toronto and Boston popped up.

“We had a choice to pursue — there wasn’t an offer on the table yet from either of them but the Pacers came to me and said we could pursue either of them and which one would I rather pursue? I choose Boston.”

The 29-year-old cited superstar duo Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as a definitive factor in his decision to join the Celtics.

“I thought this team was farther along,” Brogdon said of Boston. “They have a superstar in Jayson Tatum and probably another superstar in Jaylen Brown as well. I thought it would be a great fit for me because I wanted to win right now.”

The Celtics are the Vegas favorites to win back-to-back Eastern Conference titles in NBA betting at a price of +275, ahead of the 2021 champions Milwaukee Bucks.

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