Brandan Wright prepared for his final flight as a member of the Dallas Mavericks just as he did for each of the countless trips he logged during his three-plus seasons with the team.

The Mavericks defeated the Detroit Pistons 117-106 on Dec. 17. Wright logged 20 minutes, putting up 10 points, five rebounds and three blocks. The effort was one of the big man’s best of the month, but it would be his last contest in a Dallas uniform.

“We are played Detroit and we were flying back and the rumors started to float around,” Wright recalled. “It had a full head of steam by the morning and then by the afternoon it was pretty much done.”

When Wright discusses ‘it’ he is referring to the Dec. 18 trade that sent him to the Boston Celtics along with Jae Crowder and Jameer Nelson. The Mavericks received Rajon Rondo and Dwight Powell in return. On Friday night, the Celtics welcomed the Mavericks to Boston. Just two weeks after the completion of the NBA’s biggest deal of the season, the two clubs shared the court.

“If [Dallas] pulled off something big, I probably had to be involved, but it was definitely a shock,” Wright said of the trade.

Wright’s numbers with Dallas dipped slightly from November to December, but he was still firmly entrenched as a member of the rotation on a playoff team. He ranked eighth on the Mavericks in minutes, but was nearly on par with Dirk Nowitzki in per-36 averages (17 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3 blocks against 23, 7.2 and 0.6 for the first-ballot Hall of Famer).

He had the highest offense rating on the club (an absurd 149 points per 100 possessions), the second-best defensive rating (104 points allowed per 100 possessions) and was shooting at red-hot 74.8 percent from the field. Wright would lead the NBA in field goal percentage if he qualified, which he is on the cusp of doing (on pace for 300 made shots).

As well as he was playing for the Mavericks; Wright was the key piece to any significant move Dallas made. The 27-year-old carries both an affordable ($5 million) and expiring contract.

“A little bit of both,” Wright said when asked whether the trade was more a result of his contract or play. “I thought we had great chemistry. We had a good situation, but you can’t pass up getting an All-Star point guard. A guy that’s won a championship already, that’s just something you can’t pass up. You’ve got to get those things done.”

As you might expect, Wright found out he was headed to Boston while browsing social media.

“Twitter, just like everything else,” he admitted. “That’s where I saw it first.”

Wright has had two weeks to acclimate to his new surroundings, which include an end locker that was once inhabited by the likes of Jermaine O’Neal and Joel Anthony. The Mavericks remain firmly entrenched in the playoff picture with Rondo in the lineup. They are closer to the league’s best record than they are to ninth place in the Western Conference.

The Celtics, meanwhile, remain a team in transition. Trading Rondo may allow them to finally turn the page and look fully toward the future, but how this season will play out remains a mystery. They entered action on Friday at 11-18, just one game behind the Miami Heat for the final playoff berth in the East, but more changes may be on the horizon. 

It has been rumored that Jeff Green and Brandon Bass may be the next Celtics shipped out of town. Wright could also be moved a second time as he carries serious value for a contender. The Cleveland Cavaliers have been mentioned as a fit since news of the Boston-Dallas trade went down. 

For the time being, Wright is in a much different situation than he expected to be in when the season began. He’s gone from a team with title aspirations to a team that will likely take part in the lottery.

“You can’t look at it like that,” Wright said. “You’ve still got to approach it like you are trying to go out there and get wins. You know, we are only one or two games out. We still have a chance. It’s still a team searching for an identity, coming from Dallas where they have a lot of established guys and defined roles. We’ll work on it and we’ll get better.”