Marcus Smart spent the first nine years of his NBA career with the Boston Celtics after the franchise selected him No. 6 overall in the 2014 NBA Draft. 

And after he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of a three-team deal that brought Kristaps Porzingis to Boston, what transpired in his first season in a new uniform would be tough for most to swallow.

The Celtics went on to win the 2024 NBA title, and Smart, who had been integral in the team’s build-up to a run to the 2022 NBA Finals, watched his former teammates celebrate. 

But during a recent conversation on Tidal League’s “Run Your Race,” Smart was candid about his feelings on the Celtics’ title. He congratulated the organization, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown while praising his former teammates.

Smart did admit it was a little “bittersweet” after not being able to finish what he started with the Celtics, but said he was screaming as loud as anyone when Boston clinched the title.

“Shout out to Jaylen [Brown], Jayson [Tatum] and the Boston Celtics. Congratulations on the championship… I know everybody is expecting me to be salty and s—,” Smart said. “There’s no hard feelings for them … it’s definitely a bittersweet feeling because, like I said, I was in those trenches with them, so to be able not to finish what you started with those guys is definitely tough. But my wife would tell you, I was screaming for [the Celtics] when they won it just as much as anybody else because I have love for those guys and I know the work that they put in.”

Warning: NSFW