Ainge on Toucher & Rich: ‘Time Will Tell’ on Who’s the Real ‘Thief’ in Celtics-Cavs Trade
An unnamed Cavaliers player reportedly called Danny Ainge a “thief” over the trade between the Cavs and Celtics that sent Kyrie Irving to Boston. Ainge himself respectfully disagrees with that assessment.
As the Celtics president of basketball ops explained in his weekly call with Toucher & Rich on Thursday, he’s not so sure he even got the best of the Cavs. Isaiah Thomas turned out to be a bust for Cleveland, but they did turn Isaiah and Jae Crowder into Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance, and Rodney Hood in two separate deadline deals. And they still have Brooklyn’s first-round pick, which turned out to be No. 8 overall.
The C’s did, however, end up with Kyrie.
Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving and head coach Brad Stevens. -Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images
Despite the trade working out in the short-term for the Celtics, Ainge reminded the guys that it garnered a polarizing reaction in Boston when it was made. And he still thinks we need to wait and see on how things go for both teams to decide who “won” the deal.
“Time will tell on all these trades, but at the time we were criticized for giving up too much,” Ainge said. “We gave up a lot. We liked Jae Crowder and we liked Isaiah Thomas and the Brooklyn pick. I thought it was a fair trade at the time.
“We liked the trade for us then and we like it now, and hopefully it works out good for both teams.”
Ainge also bantered with in-studio guest Cedric Maxwell and confirmed, yet again, that Gordon Hayward isn’t coming back. Listen above for the full interview!
