When the final buzzer sounded in Game 7 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, twenty-three retired numbers looked down at the parquet floor from the rafters of TD Garden. At the time, no one knew that that day would (probably) be the final time that Marcus Smart suited up with his #36 for the Boston Celtics.
Less than a month later, Smart was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of the three-team deal that sent Washington Wizards big man Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics. It was a move that closed the book on his nine-year tenure in Boston — the longest of any player since Rajon Rondo.