If winning championships is the actual goal of the Celtics, trading Marcus Smart was inevitable.

That’s not to say Smart isn’t a championship level player — in theory, he does all the little things that are needed to raise banners like play defense, make the hustle play, etc.

HOWEVER what the rest of the country, and apparently the Boston media who covers the Celtics, doesn’t seem to understand is that Smart had become a detriment to the Celtics success.

It’s not hard to see why. It’s simple actually. Smart was the sixth pick in the 2014 draft and was the first major piece to the Boston rebuild following the Pierce/KG trade. In theory, if the pick worked out, Smart was going to be a key pillar for the next generation of great Celtic teams.

And he was a pillar. The problem was he wasn’t the type of pillar that could hold on its own.

Two years after Smart was selected the real reinforcements started coming in. Jaylen Brown was selected third overall and instantly became the focal point of the C’s rebuild. The year after that the Celts used the third pick of Jayson Tatum and later signed Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, pushing Smart and all other Celtic rotation players down the pecking order.

Once Kyrie and Hayward were out of there, Smart bolted up that order and basically intruded his way into a “Big Three” with Tatum, Brown and himself. The problem? Smart carried himself like he was a main part of that trio, rather than an expendable piece.

Smart wants the ball in his hand at the end of the game and believes he should have the ball. He took two(!) potential game-winners in game four of the Philly series. He shouldn’t have even been on the floor!

Derrick White is the best guard on the Celtics. In order to restore order in the locker room and establish the true pecking order of the team, Smart had to go. He would never allow himself to be held in any other light than a star in Boston. He isn’t that player.

This is a move that will help the Celtics in the long run. Tatum and Brown must now assert themselves as the leaders of the team. Everything goes through them. If Brown can’t get on board that it’s Tatum’s team at the end of the day, he can go too.

Tatum is the key to Boston winning its 18th banner. Everything the organization does from this point on needs to be about bringing the best out of him. Taking Smart out of the equation and forcing Tatum to be the unquestioned face of the franchise is exactly what the C’s needed to do.

Side note: if one more member of the Boston media writes some sappy post about Smart and acting like he died I am going to lose my mind. He’s in Memphis! He isn’t dead. I don’t know how it ended up that every dorky dweeb covers the NBA but here we are.

Another note: the thing that keeps getting thrown around about Smart is that he was the heart and sole of the team. I don’t know about you but I didn’t see much heart on that Celtics team. Their identity was being a bunch of front-runners who quit and gave up when the going got tough. They didn’t know how to win. Yet somehow replacing the guy who’s the heart of the culture is a bad thing? Give me a break.

The Celts are in win-now mode for as long as Tatum is around. Ripping the Smart bandaid off was a necessary step to try to accomplish the goal of winning a championship.

I’ve long been a defender of Smart’s game. I think he could have been one of the best point guards in the league with his pure passing ability. The issue is he’s never grown into that player, instead thinking of himself as someone who should be taking 15-20 shots a game. It’s delusional and it’s gotten to the point where you had to move on.

Good on Brad Stevens for seeing what he had to do and having the stones to do the difficult, but necessary, thing.