Celtics boss Danny Ainge explains why he finally traded the Nets' 2018 draft pick

Ainge traded the coveted unprotected pick to the Cavaliers in the Kyrie Irving deal

By Colin Ward-Henninger

Sep 28, 2017 at 2:28 pm ET • 1 min read

For the past few years, Boston Celtics president Danny Ainge has been arguably the stingiest executive in the NBA, reportedly squashing several potential deals for superstars due to an unwillingness to part with assets.

That all changed in late August, when Ainge traded away his most valuable asset, Brooklyn's unprotected 2018 first-round draft pick, as part of the package for Kyrie Irving. The Celtics had reportedly already refused to include the pick in potential deals for Paul George and Jimmy Butler, so why was Ainge willing to finally relinquish the potential top-five draft pick to get Irving?

Ainge explained to CSN New England:

I think that signing Al Horford and Gordon Hayward, I feel a responsibility to give them a chance. I think that Brooklyn pick could be very, very exciting. I think Cleveland could have a really good pick there. But it's probably gonna be a big man that's 19 years old, that probably needs a couple years to develop, and could develop into a franchise player.
But Kyrie is a proven, sure thing -- a guy that's 25 and can really, really play right now. I think that's fair for [Celtics coach] Brad [Stevens] and that's fair for Gordon, and Al. Also it'll give a chance for Jayson [Tatum] and Jaylen [Brown] and all those guys to develop. We have some young guys that we're developing, that are bright parts of the future: Terry Rozier and Marcus as well -- Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris. We have a young team and we feel like we can have them together for a while.

The Brooklyn pick was a key factor in pulling off the deal that also sent Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and a 2020 second-round pick to the Cavs, who were able to build for the future while getting an All-NBA point guard to replace Irving. Meanwhile the Celtics dramatically revamped their roster, retaining just four players from last season (Horford, Smart, Brown and Rozier).

It's going to take a while for the Celtics to learn to play together, but Ainge clearly felt that assembling the team's current young core was well worth losing the 2018 Brooklyn pick.