Boston Celtics: Looking back at the one trade Danny Ainge lost
Boston Celtics’ Danny Ainge is considered one of the best general managers in the NBA, but the one trade that he needed to get right, he lost
The Boston Celtics franchise has the most championships in the NBA, with 17. The man that runs the show or makes the decision is former Celtics player Danny Ainge.
Ainge is known to be a genius when times comes to make trades; a clear example is that there’s a growing joke around fan circles that says, if you’re an NBA general manager and you see Ainge’s number on the caller ID, you should never answer.
Also, history supports that Ainge is one of the best general managers currently in the NBA. From the trades to acquire Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to acquiring the draft pick that turned into Jayson Tatum and a future first-round pick for the draft pick that turned in to Markelle Fultz.
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Danny Ainge’s best trades
Here are seven of the best trades Danny Ainge has made:
• June 28, 2006: Traded a 2007 1st round draft pick (Rudy Fernandez) to the Phoenix Suns for Brian Grant and Rajon Rondo.
• January 12, 2015: As part of a 3-team trade, the Boston Celtics traded Jeff Green to the Memphis Grizzlies; the Grizzlies traded Tayshaun Prince and a future 1st round draft pick to the Boston Celtics; the Grizzlies traded Quincy Pondexter and a 2015 2nd round draft pick.
• December 18, 2014: Traded Dwight Powell and Rajon Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks for Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson, Brandan Wright, a 2016 1st round draft pick and a 2016 2nd round draft pick. (Boston also receives $13M trade exception.)
• February 19, 2015: As part of a 3-team trade, the Celtics traded Marcus Thornton and a 2016 1st round draft pick to the Suns; the Celtics traded Tayshaun Prince to the Detroit Pistons; the Pistons traded Gigi Datome and Jonas Jerebko to the Celtics, and the Suns traded Isaiah Thomas to the Celtics. (PHO 2016 1st round pick received from BOS is CLE’s pick and is top-10 protected.)
• June 28, 2007: Traded Jeff Green, Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and a 2008 2nd round draft pick (Trent Plaisted was later selected) to the Seattle SuperSonics (Oklahoma City Thunder) for Ray Allen and Glen Davis.
• July 31, 2007: Traded Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, a 2009 1st round draft pick (Wayne Ellington) and a 2009 1st round draft pick (Jonny Flynn) to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Garnett.
• July 12, 2013: Traded Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and D.J. White to the Brooklyn Nets for Keith Bogans, MarShon Brooks, Kris Humphries, Kris Joseph, Gerald Wallace, a 2014 1st round draft pick (James Young), a 2016 1st round draft pick (Jaylen Brown) and a 2018 1st round draft pick. Boston has the option to swap 1st round draft picks with Brooklyn in 2017.
Now, putting the feet on the ground and working for a franchise that only expects to win the championship, all these moves only managed to translate to one Larry O’Brien trophy and two appearances in the NBA Finals.
For now, with departures of Kyrie Irving and Al Horford and failing to acquire Anthony Davis, it looks that they are not competing for a championship soon. The one trade that has a pretty good approach but is having a negative effect is the Isaiah Thomas, forward Jae Crowder, center Ante Zizic and Brooklyn’s 2018 unprotected first-round pick (Colin Sexton) for Kyrie Irving.
The one he lost
On paper, acquiring a player like an Irving for your star, a role player, a young player and future pick that isn’t yours will be a no brainer. But trading Thomas that after suffering a horrible injury and then watching him play through it – amongst other things – will be viewed as backstabbing.
The trade was so impactful that when Anthony Davis made a trade request, his father made it clear that he didn’t want him to be traded to the Celtics.
But even after trading Thomas for Irving, the Celtics did nothing but disappoint in the playoffs when he was healthy.
The team lost in the Eastern Conference Finals, in Game 7, without a healthy Kyrie and then lost in the Eastern Conference Semifinals with a healthy Kyrie. The Celtics did nothing but fall short of expectations after the blockbuster trade.
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Fast forward to today, the Celtics lost Kyrie Irving and Al Horford to free agency and now have a core that revolves around Kemba Walker. The next free-agent class is thin on stars with the only big names being Anthony Davis and Draymond Green, and both players are expected to re-sign with their incumbent teams.
Danny Ainge swung for the fences, with arguably his best trade yet, and lost.