About 20 minutes before opening tip on Sunday, Marcus Smart walked out to the court at TD Garden before a Celtics game, for the first time, from the visiting tunnel. The roar from the crowd was deafening as Smart waved back.

It was nothing compared to the scene that unfolded a half-hour later.

During the first timeout of the first quarter, the entire arena stood for a long-awaited, deserving tribute. A two-minute video played on the video board, full of the iconic highlights that made Smart one of the most beloved players in recent Celtics history.

On the Celtics bench, Jayson Tatum urged the crowd to get louder as the tribute video ended and panned to Smart on the screen. He was visibly moved. He pumped his chest a few times. He blew a kiss to the crowd, and then raised both of his arms in the air to salute the crowd of the home he worked for nine years. The crowd responded with chants of, “We love Marcus!”

“I love you guys and forever you guys will always be in my heart, and Boston will always be here,” Smart said before the moment. “Never forgotten.”

Smart did not play on Sunday as he continues to recover from a right ring finger injury he suffered last month, but his return was otherwise perfectly captured as the Celtics honored his nine seasons as a franchise icon who became a staple in Boston.

Smart’s play as one of the best defenders and toughest competitors in the league who was a cornerstone for the Celtics’ ascent back to the top of the Eastern Conference was encapsulated. His community work was honored, too, as he was recognized as the “Hero Among Us” after nine years that included being a constant visitor to Boston Children’s Hospital for kids battling cancer, and the creation of his YounGameChanger Foundation to support inner-city student-athletes.

“I pride myself on being more than just a basketball player and I think being here in the city of Boston has really opened that field for me to really show who I am as a person,” Smart said.

Smart’s exit in June was shocking. Just before midnight on June 21, he was suddenly traded to the Grizzlies in a three-team deal. Smart had no idea until the next morning when he woke up, something that bothered him, especially since, he said, the organization told him the week prior that he would not be traded.

It took some time for Smart to get over that. He said a wild year that included getting married and other personal things helped.

“It definitely hurt but it didn’t hurt as hard as I thought it would because of that,” Smart said. “I understand business and I understand this business, and I tell people to this day if it was me I would make the same business decision as well. All I ask was that they could have given me a heads up or just a simple, ‘Hey, being here nine years, we just want to let you know this is what’s going on.’ Perfect.

“At the end of the day, I’m a businessman as well. So that’s what it was, (where) the hurt really came from. But like I said, I was able to keep my mind off of it. There’s no ill will towards the organization, towards my teammates, towards the coaching staff. I love everybody. And I’m thankful to have had an opportunity to play with those guys.”

Smart took some time after his pregame press conference to visit the Celtics locker room, where he saw a few of his old teammates. The guard takes pride in how the Celtics have continued to excel without him. Though he’s disappointed in not being part of a championship run with them, he’s happy to see them continue to flourish from afar, especially Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

“It’s amazing to see,” Smart said, “For me, to see my brothers, all around in every sport, doing what they love to do and doing exceptionally well at a very elite level, but especially this group of guys. It’s a special relationship I’ve built with these guys and I’ve seen these guys take a lot of criticism over the years. I’m just happy for them to finally clicking and getting it together because I had the pleasure of seeing it every day. You guys had a pleasure of only seeing it for a certain amount of time and that’s on the basketball court. I’m very ecstatic for those guys and I’m happy for them. …

“it would be hard to try to wrap your head around it,” Smart said of not continuing the journey with them. “But at the end of the day, like I said, it doesn’t stop how I feel about good guys. And just as much as I think I deserve it, they deserve it as much as well.”

Smart, through all of the emotions of the day and night, maintained his love for Boston and the Celtics, something that will never change no matter where he goes in his career.

“Boston is definitely a second home for me,” Smart said. “I could go on all day about everything I’ve experienced here, but just the way Boston took me in. We all know playing in this city isn’t the easiest and there’s plenty of times they let us know about it, especially me. But everything is always great here and I speak for everybody – the opposing team and guys that have played here – that there’s nothing like playing in this place and this city with these fans.

“They allowed me to grow. They allowed me to see a different side of myself, and they watched me become a man. So my favorite things will always be here, but they definitely have shaped my life in more ways than one.”

Tip-ins

Brown did not play Sunday due to lower back tightness, but the injury is not considered serious. Luke Kornet returned from a three-game absence. … The Grizzlies had just eight available players for Sunday’s game due to 13 players being ruled out, including Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr.