The Boston Celtics had a difficult decision ahead of them when the possibility to snatch Kyrie Irving became available to them in the summer of 2017, and while the trade had emotional repercussions for head coach Brad Stevens, it was a move the front office agreed to make in unison.
It isn't often that a top-10 talent goes on the trade block. When one does, it's often the front office with ice in its veins and a quick trigger that benefits from such fortune.
“I feel like there’s opportunities that you have to look at and explore, and Kyrie was one of those opportunities that, unanimously, internally it was something that we all felt like we should do,” said Celtics president Danny Ainge, according to ESPN's Chris Forsberg. “Everybody, unanimously, wanted to do it.”
Trading Isaiah Thomas — who had just had the best season of his career — was a pill that proved hard to swallow, but the front office had the consensus to agree on making the move.
Sure, Thomas had just finished third in the league in scoring with an average of 28.9 points per game, but it was likely going to be the peak of his career, especially after having his postseason short with a hip injury in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Irving had a proven record of being one of the NBA's most gifted scorers, and even without LeBron James, his career arc was already showing promise of him being an elite-level talent.
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