Despite assembling their last championship squad, Danny Ainge was sometimes criticized for playing it safe during his long tenure as Boston Celtics general manager. Well, he recently confirmed one instance of him standing pat that should make the Green Teamers feel grateful.
“Some of the best trades I ever made were the ones I wasn't able to make,” Ainge told the Players' Tribune podcast Knuckleheads with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles. “I was trying to get Jimmy Butler from Chicago when I was in Boston, but they wanted a lot. So we didn't do it. And it ended up being Jaylen [Brown] and Jayson [Tatum]. Both of those draft picks.”
“Some of the best trades I ever made were the ones I wasn’t able to make.” 👀
Danny Ainge reveals plans of bringing Jimmy Butler to Boston to @QRich and @21Blackking.
Y’all don’t want to miss this one. #Knuckleheads. Tap in TOMORROW. pic.twitter.com/CZMqhDZPvC
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) August 14, 2023
Inevitably there will be a few wisenheimers who say “how did that work out for you this year,” but the Celtics would be aimless without Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown leading the way. A Jimmy Butler-led team without those two could have been merely a temporary solution when considering the injury problems that befell both Isaiah Thomas and Gordon Hayward afterwards. We can only speculate, of course, but the team's present and future title window remains wide open with the Jays at the forefront.
The Celtics have come under attack in recent years for not reaching their full potential, which was envisioned to be the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Danny Ainge was assigned plenty of blame for those shortcomings. Mistakes were made and the relationship ran its course, but one cannot deny that his decisions helped position the franchise for sustained success.
He is now looking to do the same as the Utah Jazz's president of basketball operations, while the Celtics remain fully committed to the Tatum-Brown duo. And Butler is a Miami Heat legend who continues to amaze fans in the postseason. Everyone is where they are supposed to be, and the NBA is likely a more balanced and exciting league because of that pivotal course of action.
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