Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Thursday night that he worked on deals of all varieties — big and small; for now and for the future — but ultimately couldn’t hammer out a swap that made sense for Boston and its potential trade partner(s) before the NBA’s 3 p.m. deadline passed.
“I guess what prevented any trade was making at least two teams in a deal happy, or satisfied that a deal was worthwhile,” said Ainge. “But as late as 2:57, there was still trades that were possible and being negotiated. We were close to handful of different types of trades — small to bigger — that just couldn’t be resolved. That happens often.”
Asked later if he approached the deadline as a buyer or a seller, Ainge added, “I was looking at both opportunities, to strengthen our team for the playoff run this year and/or build some chips and some assets for future. We actually had a lot of conversation on both sides, but nothing seemed good enough to do.”
— Reported by Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston
