Ranking the best trades the Boston Celtics ‘almost’ made under Danny Ainge

2. Anthony Davis

The Celtics spent years gearing up for a run at Anthony Davis, according to Wojnarowski (via Tom Westerholm of MassLive). But when push came to shove, the Los Angeles Lakers wound up outbidding them leading up to the 2019 NBA draft.

In February of that year, Davis’ father told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that he would “never want my son to play for Boston after what they did to Isaiah Thomas.” A few months later, Davis’ agent, Rich Paul, told S.L. Price of Sports Illustrated that “if the Celtics traded for Anthony Davis, we would go there and we would abide by our contractual [obligations], and we would go into free agency in 2020.”

That appeared to deter Ainge from offering his full war chest, according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. While Sam Amick of The Athletic reported in February that the Celtics and New Orleans Pelicans had discussed packages including Jayson Tatum, Marc Stein of the New York Times reported that they refused to include Tatum once trade talks heated up in June.

Instead, the Lakers wound up sending Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, three first-round picks and a pick swap to the Pelicans for Davis. Fortune favored the bold, as the Lakers immediately proceeded to win a championship in their first year with him in the fold.

Meanwhile, the Celtics frontcourt remains one of their biggest weak spots.