Celtics fans hoping for a splashy move before the March 25 NBA trade deadline might be in for some disappointment.
Boston president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said in an interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub Thursday he would “most likely” wait until the offseason to use the team’s $28.5 million traded-player exception.
“I’ve always felt that,” he said.
Ainge’s declaration on the Toucher and Rich show follows weeks of hinting the Celtics might wait to use their TPE — the largest in NBA history — after the season, or only use part of it before the trade deadline.
Such a move would continue a six-year streak of in-season inaction in the trade market for Ainge since bringing in guard Isaiah Thomas from the Phoenix Suns.
Ainge also noted the Celtics’ lack of salary cap space as a reason to wait to use the exception and also remarked Boston isn’t likely to use the full exception on one player.
When asked about potential fan outrage to the Celtics standing pat at the deadline, Ainge pushed back.
“I live in a different world than the world of Twitter,” he retorted, saying most trade speculation is “not even real.”
Ainge told the hosts he does not feel additional pressure to make a trade just to compete with the Brooklyn Nets’ budding super-team, which just signed six-time All-Star Blake Griffin to join Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving.
He also slammed criticism citing the organization’s lack of deadline trades last season as a reason Boston didn’t make the NBA Finals as “ridiculous.”
“I didn’t know Gordon Hayward was going to get hurt in the first playoff game,” Ainge said. “I think we still beat Miami if we’re healthy. But that’s just part of the game. That had nothing to do with the trade deadline, what we were willing to do or not willing to do…that’s not true.”
Ainge further explained that he wouldn’t make a trade for a player the Celtics couldn’t re-sign long-term at a fair value, saying this year’s less-than-stellar free-agent market could force the team to lose out on players seeking bigger contracts at the end of the season.
That said, Ainge said he “would not eliminate doing a deal for this year” for the right price and said the phone lines are “as busy as ever.” Detroit Pistons beat writer James Edwards III reported the Celtics have offered “multiple” first-round picks for rising star forward Jerami Grant but also said the Pistons do not plan to trade Grant.
Ainge also spoke positively about the Celtics heading into the All-Star break with four straight wins after a roller-coaster start to the season, and expressed optimism about Marcus Smart’s return ahead of Thursday’s game against the Nets.
“When we’re healthy, I think that our team is a good team,” he said. “It should be a fun second half of the year.”