Ex-Celtics President Danny Ainge Reveals Asking Price in Jimmy Butler Trade Talks

It’s been a few seasons now since Danny Ainge has run the Celtics. The team’s former president is now an executive in the Jazz organization, but he still speaks very fondly of his time in Boston.

After all, Ainge was an important player on Boston’s championship teams in the ’80s, and ended up being the man running the franchise for 18 years.

So as Ainge reflected on his time in Boston, he was asked about some of his best trades. His answer was quite revealing in terms of what it would have taken to land one current Eastern Conference franchise player.

“Some of the best trades I ever made were the ones that I wasn’t able to make,” Ainge told Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles on the Knuckleheads podcast. “You know, like I was trying to get Jimmy Butler from Chicago when I was in Boston, but they wanted a lot. And so we didn’t do it. Because it would’ve, and it ended up would’ve been Jaylen [Brown] and Jayson [Tatum]. Both those draft picks … that we got Jaylen and Jayson with, so that was one that like I loved Jimmy and I was trying to get him …could’ve drafted Jimmy late, I liked him even then. But like now, he’d be proving how good of a player he was. Yeah, that was probably one.”

Boston took Brown with the No. 3 pick in the 2016 draft, and signed him to an NBA-record contract extension this offseason. Tatum was selected with the No. 3 pick one year later, in ’17, and will make life-changing money next offseason when he’s eligible for his supermax contract extension in Boston.

Sure, it would have been nice for Boston to land Butler all those years ago, especially after seeing how he led the Heat to a Eastern Conference finals win over the Celtics last season. But considering where the Celtics are now, building around two young franchise wing players, Ainge is probably right. Sometimes some of the best trades are the ones you don’t make.