It’s reasonable to ponder what it may have been like if Jimmy Butler were wearing green after witnessing the Miami Heat defeat the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
It comes out that Danny Ainge tried to trade for Butler when he first joined the Chicago Bulls. Chicago’s demand, but, was too expensive.
“Some of the best trades I ever made were the ones that I wasn’t able to make,” Ainge said during an interview with The Players Tribune. “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, and it would have ended up being Jaylen and Jayson, those two draft picks that we got Jaylen and Jayson with.”
The Celtics chose Brown and Tatum in back-to-back years after receiving the picks in a trade that transferred Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Brooklyn Nets.
The Celtics have reached five of the previous seven Eastern Conference Finals under their leadership, making them one of the NBA’s top tandems.
Last month, Brown inked a 5-year, $304 million supermax extension, the largest contract in the NBA. In the previous two seasons, Tatum was chosen for the first-team All-NBA.
Butler, a six-time all-star, has helped the Heat reach the Finals twice. Ainge seems to regret not making the trade, though.