Ainge: Celtics were 'willing to do one deal,' other team backed out
The Boston Celtics didn't end up making a big splash before Thursday's trade deadline, as many had anticipated, but it wasn't for lack of trying.
Celtics president Danny Ainge defended his team's inactivity on Thursday by saying there were "no deals good enough" for Boston, and admitted Friday that he was in fact prepared to go through with one big deal - but the other team backed out at the 11th hour.
"We were willing to do one deal, and it just didn't happen," he told Ryan Johnston and Mike Flynn on CBS Boston radio. "Both teams weren't ready to go. And it was a really tough, close deal. And it was certainly not a no-brainer. There was risk on both sides' part. But at the end of the day, both teams were not ready to do it."
Ainge wouldn't reveal who the mystery team was, but said the prospective deal was "never reported" as a rumor, according to Adam Kaufman of WBZ NewsRadio.
That would seem to rule out, at minimum, Kevin Love, who was reported to be part of a proposed three-team trade that would've seen him land in Boston while Carmelo Anthony went from the Knicks to the Cavaliers. The Celtics were also rumored to be in the mix for Al Horford and Dwight Howard, though no specific trade proposal was ever reported in either case.
Ainge did, however, let one juicy detail slip, telling Kaufman that the trade would've involved arguably the Celtics' most highly coveted asset: the Brooklyn Nets' first-round draft pick this summer.
"It's something we had been deliberating on for two days straight," Ainge said. "The other team was doing that (as well). And we were wrapping ourselves around a big package to do a deal, and at the very last minute, you know, they just said, oh, they did not want to do it. They just backed out."
- With h/t to PBT