3. Boston Celtics
Danny Ainge just spent six months engaged in the most high stakes game of Monopoly in the history of the NBA.
He started with more properties than anyone else on the board and a boatload of cash, but very few reds and yellows, and nary a green, let alone a dark blue.
Now that the dust has settled, it’s clear Ainge got himself a few pieces on the far side of the board. Whether Kyrie is a green or a blue is still up for debate. Regardless, Trader Danny’s still one move away – cough, Anthony Davis, cough – from a monopoly that should end the game.
What Ainge is in the middle of building will ultimately have as drastic an effect on the league as anything a team has done since Miami’s coup in the summer of 2010. A decade ago, he played his cards perfectly and got a championship for his troubles. Given the cards they’re holding at the moment, if the next decade saw the Celtics raise only one additional banner to their crowded rafters, it would have to be considered a disappointment.
Path to Glory: Try not to fall over yourself running to the phone when the Pelicans finally decide to start taking calls on Davis, and resist the urge to cash in the remaining chips for anything less in the meantime.