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When the Celtics' contingent arrived in the Hamptons to pitch Kevin Durant on the prospect of relocating to Boston, they came armed with one of the most important figures in the city's history.

Not Will Hunting or the CIA dude from Argo who hates Deflategate. The Celtics brought Patriots quarterback Tom Brady with them.

Until now, Brady's role in the Celtics' ultimately unsuccessful meeting with Durant wasn't exactly clear -- except, of course, to lure Durant with his tastefully unbuttoned shirt.

Thanks to the Boston Globe, Brady's actual role is now known. Speaking with the Globe's Dan Shaughnessy, Celtics general manager Danny Ainge provided an inside look at the Celtics' meeting with Durant. And in that account lies Brady's role.

Here's what we know:

  • Celtics players, including Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Smart, and Jae Crowder, were "infatuated" by Brady during lunch.
  • Brady told Durant what Boston is like as a sports city.
  • Brady "did a great job" for the Celtics.

As Ainge told the Globe, he's known Brady for a while, and the two spoke on the phone and exchanged texts. When Brady arrived back in Boston after spending some time in Costa Rica with his family, he agreed to tag along with the Celtics to the Hamptons. After flying up there, the group went to lunch ahead of their Durant meeting.

Ainge explained to the Globe why his players were "infatuated" with Brady:

I think it was just as much fun for all of us to be around Tom Brady and just talk to him. Our players were really infatuated and excited to meet with Tom Brady and just talk to him about fitness and training at his age and how he stays so healthy. There was a lot of discussion about that over lunch. It was fun listening to Tom teach our young guys.

Hopefully Brady brought a few of his $200 cookbooks with him to hand out to the Celtics. And, hopefully, those players possess the kind of mental fortitude that's required to stick with Brady's strict diet.

As his personal chef revealed, Brady doesn't eat white sugar, white flour, MSG, iodized salt, peppers, mushrooms, eggplants, caffeine, fungus, dairy, and gluten. According to Brady himself, he's never tried coffee in his life -- not even a sip. Sometimes, he allows himself a tomato or a banana.

The diet might be working. Brady's nearly 39 and is showing no clear signs of aging.

After lunch, the group headed to the sit-down with Durant. Ainge revealed to the Globe that Brady actually kicked off the meeting:

First Tom and Kevin greeted each other. They had met each other before. Tom's a big fan of KD's. Then we sat down fairly quickly and got down to business. Tom talked a little bit about the Celtics and Boston and what it's like as a city and how they embrace sports.

Once the executives finished their spiel, they left Durant alone with the Celtics players and Brady for 45 minutes. The executives eventually rejoined the meeting, and Brady and the players flew back home.

Durant, of course, ended up turning down the Celtics and chose the Warriors instead. But, as Ainge told the Globe, the Celtics' chances certainly weren't hurt by Brady's presence:

It's hard to know for sure what kind of impact Tom had on things. Obviously it was beneficial for us and I think for sure it was great for our players. It was fun to be around Tom. I think it had some impact on KD for sure, but how much, I don't know. You could tell there was a great deal of mutual respect. Tom did a great job for us and we're very grateful, regardless of the outcome. It was a good experience for us.

So, I feel it's my duty to point out that Brady grew up in San Mateo, which is situated roughly 20 miles south from the heart of San Francisco, 25 miles to the southwest of Oracle Arena in Oakland, and 20 or so miles north of Erlich Bachman's house. Which means the Celtics willingly allowed a Bay Area native to attend and kick off a pitch meeting with a free agent before ultimately losing that free agent to the Bay Area's basketball team. If Brady jobbed the Celtics, he would go down as Boston's biggest rat since Matt Damon in The Departed.

Of note: I'm currently wearing my conspiracy theory hat.