- Danny Ainge put together the Big 3 of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen for the Boston Celtics in 2007
- He recently revealed that he told Paul Pierce the year before that he would trade him to a contender if he couldn’t get him help
- Danny Ainge admitted he didn’t think Kevin Garnett was going to be available
Danny Ainge is a Boston Celtics legend for being the executive who put together the legendary trio of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen.
But as he admitted in a recent interview, he did not expect that to happen. He was close to trading Paul Pierce away after the 2006-07 season, which is wild.
“I felt like I owed it to Paul (Pierce) because Paul had been a team guy,” Ainge said. “He had been a real good soldier for us. He sat out the second half of 2007 with an injury.
“We had talked like, ‘If I can’t get it done this year for you, then I’ll try to get you to a team that has a chance to win.’ We had that agreement. Never did I think KG was going to be available.”
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The Boston Celtics are historically the most successful NBA franchise alongside the Los Angeles Lakers, and they had gone 21 seasons without a championship by the time 2007-08 rolled around.
They had a star in Paul Pierce, who had led them to the playoffs and even the Conference Finals but had seen the team around him deteriorate. That’s what made the trade Ainge made so legendary.
Instead of trading Pierce away, he got Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to join him, and the Celtics’ fortunes immediately changed. They went from a 24-58 record to a 66-16 record and won the championship in 2008.
Danny Ainge made the best move he could have in that scenario.
Paul Pierce Claims The Boston Celtics Big 3 Was Different From Modern Superteams
The 2008 Boston Celtics are often considered the first superteam that started the era, but Paul Pierce doesn’t agree. Speaking in the past, The Truth spoke about how the Celtics got incredibly lucky to be able to get Kevin Garnett and put the team together.
The Boston Celtics’ Big 3 should have won more championships, but after 2008, they fell short time and again.
What makes Danny Ainge a legend is he flipped his aging superstars to set the team up with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for years to come.
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