Report: Celtics Trade Moses Brown to Mavericks for Josh Richardson

The Celtics are trading Moses Brown to the Mavericks in the Josh Richardson trade, The Athletic's Shams Charania reports. 

Brown, who spent one month with the Celtics, averaged 8.6 points and 8.9 rebounds in 43 games for the Thunder last season. He was part of the Thunder trade on June 18 that sent him, Al Horford and a 2025 second-round pick to Boston in exchange for Kemba Walker and the 16th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.  

Richardson averaged 12.1 points, 2.6 assists and 3.3 rebounds as one of five Mavericks players who averaged double digits in the regular season, playing alongside Mavs star Luka Dončić. He shot 42.7% from the floor and 33 percent from beyond the arc.

In the postseason, however, Richardson's production fell off. He averaged just 4.9 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.7 assists in 13.4 minutes per game.

The Celtics will take Richardson's $11 million salary for the 2021-22 season into the rest of Gordon Hayward's traded player exception, according to Brian Robb of MassLive. Brown has three seasons remaining on his deal and is currently making $1.7 million next season.

However, Richardson's contract is non-guaranteed, something that favors the Mavericks as Dallas looks to get max salary cap space in free agency to secure top-tier free agents to play with Dončić. 

This trade comes after the Celtics sent Tristan Thompson in a three-team trade with the Kings and Hawks on Friday. In return, Boston received Kris Dunn, Bruno Fernando and a 2023 second-round pick.