The NBA is full of what-ifs. What if the Los Angeles Lakers traded Kobe Bryant? What if Kevin Garnett never left the Minnesota Timberwolves? What if Draymond Green didn’t get suspended?
No franchise has a perfect track record with this kind of thing. That’s why being a GM is so difficult, as every minor — or major — move you make could have huge implications.
That could’ve been the case when Danny Ainge almost convinced the Chicago Bulls to trade Jimmy Butler. However, to get him, he would’ve have to give up the picks that ended up being Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Danny Ainge Almost Landed Jimmy Butler
“Some of the best trades I ever made were the ones I wasn’t able to make,” Ainge said on the Knuckleheads podcast. “You know like I was trying to get Jimmy Butler from Chicago when I was in Boston, but they wanted a lot. And so we didn’t do it.“
“It ended up, it would’ve been Jaylen and Jayson — Both those draft picks that we got Jaylen and Jayson with,” Ainge explained. “So, that was one where I loved Jimmy and was trying to get him. That was probably one.”
As great as Butler is, I believe most Celtics fans would rather get two young stars instead of just one. At the end of the day, time proved Ainge was right to kill this deal.
