Boston Celtics: How they squandered the greatest heist in NBA trade history

The Boston Celtics pulled off one of the greatest heists in NBA trade history in 2013. However, they squandered it all and have nothing to show for it

Danny Ainge did it again. Robbing the Brooklyn Nets blind of all their future draft picks. Another win for one of the best general managers in the NBA.

This was the narrative after the 2013 blockbuster trade between the Boston Celtics and Nets. The trade saw the Celtics trade their aging stars (Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry) along with a 2017 first-round and second-round pick to the Nets for first-round picks in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018, and the expiring contracts of Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, Keith Bogans, MarShon Brooks, and Kris Joseph.

At the time, it was deemed as arguably the most lopsided trade in NBA history. Nets new billionaire owner decided to impulsively trade their future for the past, a move that kept the Nets in lottery hell and made the Celtics title contenders for years to come.

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Oh wait…that’s not exactly what happened. A dive deeper into the reverberations from the trade shows how the Celtics actually wasted this lopsided blockbuster.

Let’s start with the tangible players the Celtics received. The players the Celtics got in return made little to no impact for the team. They were throw-in to make salaries work.

Gerald Wallace was coming off a disappointing season, with his scoring average dropping from 15 points to 7.7 points per game. His scoring average and play continued on this downward spiral. He played only two seasons before being shipped with Chris Babb to the Golden State Warriors for David Lee.

Keith Bogans played a total of six games before receiving the same fate as Wallace. He, along with a 2015 second-round pick and a 2017 second-round pick, were in a trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers for John Lucas III, Erik Murphy, Dwight Powell, Malcolm Thomas, a 2016 second-round pick and a 2017 second-round pick.

Marshon Brooks didn’t fair better than Bogans. He played only four more games than Bogans before being part of a three-team trade with the Warriors and Miami Heat, with the Celtics netting Joel Anthony, cash, a 2015 second-round pick, a 2016 second-round draft pick and a 2016 second-round draft pick.

Kris Humphries was arguably the biggest name traded, thanks to reality television super-stardom. Like everyone else mentioned, he played one season with Celtics before being traded to the Washington Wizards for a trade exception and second round pick.

Do you see the theme here? Danny Ainge receives cap casualties to trade them for more cap casualties and low potential draft picks. It’s an endless cycle of trading obscurity.

Ainge keeps recycling, hoping to hit on some late round talent or to free up cap space to use later down the line, but it never works out. There is no talent being acquired or doled out in any of these transactions.

However, the blockbuster was not considered a heist for the Celtics based on the players received in the deal. It was a heist because of the draft capital. The Celtics became the puppet masters of the Nets future. All the years of mediocrity for the Nets was only going to end in compensation for the Celtics.

Unfortunately, the haul of picks the Celtics received don’t hold the same weight with hindsight. Let’s see how the picks unfolded.

The 2014 first-round pick turned into the 17th pick. The Celtics took promising one-and-done prospect James Young out of Kentucky. Young never amounted to anything as he couldn’t stay out of the G-League. He managed to play three seasons with the Celtics with a career scoring average of 2.3 points.

The 2016 first-round pick luckily turned into the 3rd overall pick. The draft, so far has shown, wasn’t star driven. Ben Simmons the best player taken with the first overall pick has questions about his jump shot and the lack of development in his skills, even though he is already an all-star.

No one else has shown they could be a cornerstone franchise player or perennial all-star.  Brandon Ingram has shown flashes of what could be. Jamal Murray looks like he could make an all-star team one day, but not guys who could be the best player on a championship team.

With that said, Celtics took ascending Jaylen Brown with the 3rd pick. Brown has shown he could be a good starter and stick around in this league as a 3-and D player, at the very least. Will Brown make an all-star team? Maybe. Will he ever be the first, or second option on a championship team, probably not.

The golden pick from the trade was the 2017 first-round pick which turned into the No. 1 overall pick. In classic Danny Ainge fashion, he traded it for the 3rd overall pick in the 2017 draft and the Sacramento Kings 2019 pick (14th overall).

Unlike Danny Ainge other trades, this one actually worked out. They would have most likely taken Markelle Fultz first overall, who most people would have taken. Fultz has been an enigma to start his career. He has played less than 40 games in his career and after a very short stint with the Philadelphia 76ers, he was traded.

The Celtics seem to have made the right move here as they took Jasyon Tatum with the 3rd pick. Tatum has shown a lot of potential in his young career. He has a real chance at being a perennial all-star and cornerstone piece, but he isn’t there yet. Right now, he’s good enough for someone to make him the focal point in a trade for a superstar.

We need to see more of Tatum before we can confirm what kind of career he will have, but he is on the right track.

The Kings’ pick didn’t turn into as high as a pick as everyone might expect. With De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield emerging, the Kings were surprisingly a competitive team. Their competitiveness turned into the 14th pick in the draft, where most thought it could have been in contention for top 4 before the season started.

Boston took athletic wing Romeo Langford out of Indiana with the 14th pick. A potential scorer who needs to work on his 3-point shot. Time will tell what kind of player he turns into, but surely the Celtics would have liked a top 3 pick in this years draft.

The last domino from this trade was the 2018 first round pick. This pick got sent to the Cavs, along with Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, rookie center Ante Zizic, and a 2020 second-round pick for all-star guard Kyrie Irving.

Another trade that looked like a win at the time for the Celtics, but hindsight has once again dispelled that.

Thomas never quite recovered from his hip injury and has bounced around since being traded. The same for Crowder who bounced around since joining the Cavs. Zizic has been a decent backup center.

The 2018 pick turned in Collin Sexton at 8th overall. After his rookie season with the Cavs, he seems like a solid starting point guard. Maybe not an-all star, but someone like Jameer Nelson who was a steady starting guard for a very good Orlando Magic team.

After two tumultuous seasons with the Celtics, Kyrie Irving seems poised to leave, while the Celtics get nothing. He never quite fit into the culture and the scheme of the team. The team making it to the Eastern Conference Finals without him didn’t help.

The Celtics, this past season, failed to live up to expectations and a lot of it falls on the relationship between the Celtics and Irving. With 2019 free agency looming, all sign are pointing to Irving leaving and signing with one of the New York teams.

Irving leaving puts the nail in the coffin on this squandered opportunity.

Everyone imagined the Celtics were going to put together a great rebuilding team using the Nets picks as the foundation for it all. Two years ago, all the ingredients were coming together for a championship recipe.

Drafting Jayson Tatum, signing Gordon Hayward, and trading for Kyrie Irving. Adding these pieces to a team with a savvy veteran in Al Horford on it, made the Celtics instant title contenders in the East.

A few minutes into the Celtics first game of the season, Gordon Hayward goes down with a compress leg fracture. Kyrie Irving misses a large amount of games due to knee problems, which includes missing the playoffs.

Despite this, the Celtics played together as a team and executed beautifully. They went on a surprising run all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against LeBron.

Coming into last season, the expectations for the Celtics were through the roof. If they could make it to the Eastern Conference Finals with an inexperienced group of young guys and some veterans like Al Horford and Marcus Morris, than they could win it all when they add two all-stars in Irving and Hayward.

Sadly, this wasn’t the case and the Celtics massively under performed. Now we are at the point with Irving ready to leave, Horford ready to leave, and Ainge frantically looking for new pieces to add to the young core plus Hayward.

The era of the Celtics being championship contenders again ended before it started. It started out with selling a lot of hope. Draft picks that would turn into future all-stars.

The draft picks materialized into one possible future all-star in Tatum. Then, the signings of Horford and Hayward in back-to-back seasons, before finishing off with the Irving trade.

Injuries and chemistry issues took a toll on the team. All the reasons why the media and fans were believed in this team were stripped away before our very eyes.

There are more questions than answers for the Celtics now. Where do they go from here? How can they get back to a championship level team?

Their best hope is to land all-star Kemba Walker to help propel this team. The Celtics’ options for improvement are not many. If they strike out in free agency, they will go into next season with Tatum leading them and Hayward still trying to find his way.

The Celtics could still be a playoff team in a top-heavy East, but that’s about as good as the Nets this year.

Stuck in basketball purgatory, the Celtics will reflect on what they could have done differently. See the error in hoarding draft picks and young players, instead of taking risks and going after stars.

Danny Ainge had Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, all within reach. All he had to do was pull the trigger, but Ainge never makes a trade he doesn’t clearly win.

Well, the Cavs are at least keeping Collin Sexton around as a building block for the next few years, while the Celtics have nothing to show for the Irving trade. To make matters worse, all signs are pointing to Irving leaving for the Nets.

Everything has come full circle. The Celtics robbed the Nets of their future in 2013, the Nets are stealing the Celtics right now opportunity.

The Nets are in a better position to compete for an NBA title in the near future when the reverse was supposed to be the truth.