{"id":580258,"date":"2026-02-03T20:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T20:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/580258\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T20:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T20:12:16","slug":"former-celtics-forward-included-in-blockbuster-grizzlies-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/580258\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Celtics forward included in blockbuster Grizzlies trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Jazz unexpectedly took a massive swing ahead of Thursday\u2019s trade deadline, landing Jaren Jackson Jr. from the Grizzlies<\/a>. Jackson was a popular trade target with some rumors connected to the Celtics, though Boston was unlikely to match the price tag<\/a> Memphis would want.<\/p>\n

Former C\u2019s forward Georges Niang was also included in the blockbuster, eight-player deal, which was first reported by ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania<\/a>. Utah also got John Konchar, Vince Williams Jr. and Jock Landale, along with Jackson. The Grizzlies received Niang, Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks and three future first-round picks.<\/p>\n

Niang has yet to play a game this season as he\u2019s dealt with a left foot injury. This deal also marks the fourth time he\u2019s been traded in the past year. He was on the Cavaliers to start the 2024-25 season before a midseason trade to Atlanta. Then he was dealt to the Celtics in the three-team Kristaps Porzingis<\/a> deal over the summer.<\/p>\n

The C\u2019s shipped him to the Jazz in a salary-dumping move, landing two-way wing RJ Luis Jr., who Boston eventually waived. Niang returned to Utah, where he played earlier in his career, but now he\u2019s headed to Memphis now. Niang was complimentary of C\u2019s president Brad Stevens<\/a> during his short stint in Boston.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrad Stevens is the best of the best,\u201d Niang said. \u201cCompletely honest. Open. Called me. Told me what was going on before word had come out and explained to me the situation and kind of just went from there. I can\u2019t be thankful enough for how honest he was with me, how this organization treated me while I was only there for a certain amount of days and was completely honest with me from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a massive deal on multiple fronts with the Jazz making an aggressive move. Utah is currently 15-35 and rebuilding. But now Jackson teams up with Lauri Markkanen to make up a formidable front-court who will both be under team control going forward. The Jazz had picks to trade amid a rebuild, so they landed Jackson.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies look like a team that\u2019s selling off even further pieces. They traded Desmond Bane over the offseason to the Magic, and now Jackson is headed to the Jazz. Guard Ja Morant could be next ahead of Thursday\u2019s trade deadline, though it remains unclear how much trade value he has amid a rocky few years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jazz unexpectedly took a massive swing ahead of Thursday\u2019s trade deadline, landing Jaren Jackson Jr. from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3766],"tags":[27130,7,45,75,3798,46,359,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-580258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks-2024-2025","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-boston","11":"tag-boston-celtics","12":"tag-bostonceltics","13":"tag-celtics","14":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers-2024-2025","15":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116008527131430352","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}