What Mass. native Georges Niang said about trade from Celtics

Boston Celtics

“Obviously … you want to play for your hometown team, but I don’t think as a professional athlete you have enough time to be heartbroken.”

Georges Niang’s time with the Celtics was brief.

He was acquired in the trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Atlanta. Then, the Celtics sent him to Utah not long after.

The Methuen native Niang said he wasn’t surprised by how short his stay in Boston was. It’s how business often goes in the NBA.

“It was the summer, so nobody was really in town,” Niang told reporters in a video posted by CLNS Media. “I got a little time in the Summer league. It was just brief. I’m from here, I live here. Other than that, it was just the business aspect of changing jerseys and moving on from there.”

He described a welcoming atmosphere. He had lunch with Joe Mazzulla and some straightforward conversations with Brad Stevens about the possibility of him being on the move again. He called Stevens “the best of the best” for his transparency.

After a decade in the league with appearances for five different franchises, Niang said he didn’t have time to feel sentimental about leaving the Celtics.

“I just think the NBA is the land of the unknown. As much as people think it was [messed] up or crazy, it happened. This is professional sports. It wasn’t meant to be understood. That’s just how it goes.

“Obviously being from here you want to play for your hometown team, but I don’t think as a professional athlete you have enough time to be heartbroken or upset. You just move on and go along. It’s just another part of the journey.”

There were still some old friends who were rooting for him to stick with the Celtics, though.

“You can imagine how that looked, and obviously they were excited,” Niang said. “But, like I said, this is a business. My best advice to anybody is to not let your emotions get in the way of business. As much as we played this as a game growing up for free, this is a business and there’s some business things that happened that a lot of people don’t understand.”

Niang, who has been out with a foot injury did not play in Utah’s 105-103 win over the Celtics despite making the trip to Boston. There are no hard feelings about his brief stay, he said.

“That’s just how the cookie crumbles,” Niang said. “I play basketball for a living. I’m completely blessed, and I don’t dislike the city of Boston. This is my home. I grew up rooting for this team but obviously I have a different employer and that’s what you want to call it.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports Reporter

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.