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

1. James Harden

The Brooklyn Nets wound up landing James Harden in January, but the Celtics sniffed around as well.

“Yeah, we had conversations regarding James,” Ainge said during an appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher and Rich in mid-January (via Darren Hartwell of NBC Sports Boston). “Not recently, but yeah. We did have conversations.”

However, Sam Amick of The Athletic reported “Boston’s level of interest and involvement far surpassed what Ainge was willing to admit to when he addressed it publicly.”

Houston’s asking price was likely the deal-breaker. According to Sports Illustrated‘s Chris Mannix, the Celtics refused to part ways with Jaylen Brown in a Harden trade, but they didn’t have enough other enticing assets to beat the Nets’ offer.

Since acquiring Harden, the Nets have gone 20-7 and are one game behind the Philadelphia 76ers for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics have gone 12-16 over that same stretch and are 7.5 games behind the Sixers.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac.

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