Ultimately, the Boston Celtics failed in their meeting with Kevin Durant this past summer. Durant decided to join the Golden State Warriors instead of the Celtics and the host of other teams that met with him. Boston was in the running for Durant's services, and considering that the Celtics are not usually a destination market for superstar free agents, that in itself was a big deal for the franchise.
The Celtics also had plenty to sell Durant. They have an All-Star guard in Isaiah Thomas, recently signed All-Star forward Al Horford and they have the coaching expertise of Brad Stevens. Boston also had the biggest superstar in the city on its side during the meeting as New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady joined the contingent to sell Durant about playing for the Celtics.
Brady actually almost swayed Durant to join the Celtics just by talking about life in Boston, according to Stevens.
From Stevens' appearance on The Ringer's NBA Podcast:
Stevens: So, I didn't even know that [Tom Brady] was going for sure until that morning. ... The players and I flew together from Atlanta, because we had met with Al [Horford] the evening before. [Brady and Celtics representatives] quickly went out to eat lunch before the meeting, and you know, I think [he is] a great example of a guy that is obviously an incredibly high achiever, has won at the highest level, is totally committed to being the greatest that he can be, and loves being a part of Boston sports. He loves living in Boston, talked about how much his family enjoys Boston ... about raising his kids here -- you know everything else. He really came across as just a normal guy, and I was really impressed with him. It was the first time I had really spent any time with him. I had been to a practice of theirs before where I got a chance to meet him briefly, but he was great and people respect not only the fact that he's accomplished all that he's accomplished, but he's just a really down-to-earth person.
I felt very good about how we presented ourselves [in the team's pitch to Durant]. Having been through 13 years of recruiting prior to coming to Boston, I felt like that we went in there, and I think that we focused on the right things to focus on and put our best foot forward, and I felt really good that we had left no stone unturned, so that was that.
Brady is legitimately revered in Boston and in all of the New England region, so it was likely very easy for him to extol the virtues of the city to Durant. But as Stevens says, Brady wasn't going to be the deciding factor in the Celtics' wooing of Durant.
The Celtics needed to present themselves as a legitimate would-be contender and according to Stevens, that's what they did. And while the Celtics didn't get Durant this past summer, that experience will help them in their future pursuits of other big-name free agents. Couple that experience with the presence of Brady and it wouldn't be surprising if Boston becomes a major player in free agency in the future.
