While the era of their overlapping dominance of the NBA’s Eastern Conference was a brief one, there very nearly was a trade between the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls that would have changed the course of both franchises once the Bulls had decisively taken the crown by the late 1990s.
The Celtics ruled the 1980s in what often seemed like alternating seasons with their longtime rival Los Angeles Lakers before the rise of Michael Jordan helped Chicago put an end to both of their days of glory. But their era of dominance would come to an end as the 1990s began to wind down, and management very nearly swung a deal with a rebuilding Boston in an effort to hang on just a little longer.
Buy Celtics TicketsAnd had that trade gone through, Scottie Pippen might have been a Celtic.
We took a look at the top dunkers in Boston Celtics history. Who made the cut? https://t.co/aX9PrzZqeo
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) September 21, 2023
As the NBA turned to the past during the pandemic-necessitated hiatus of 2020, CLNS Media’s “Goodman and Ryan” podcast hosted Chicago sportswriter emeritus and “The Jordan Rules” author Sam Smith to talk about the nixed deal amongst several Bulls-related topics.
Setting the scene for the trade that would have transformed the league’s history as we know it, Smith began his tale.
Celtics General Manager M.L. Carr had just passed the torch as general manager of the Celtics to Rick Pitino, who took over as coach and G.M. in the summer of 1997 with two lottery picks gifted him from Carr and the miserable, 15-win season of 1996-97, the worst in Boston’s storied history.
“M.L. Carr loses every game that season so Boston could get Tim Duncan … they get three in the lottery,” Smith begins.
“So now Pitino comes in, he’s not coaching (whoever is taken with) No. 3 in the (lottery),” exclaimed Smith, “so he reaches out to the Bulls for (Scotty) Pippen. They should have made this deal!”
Originally reported in the New York Times that summer, McGrady himself actually brought this deal up himself appearing on ESPN’s “The Jump”.
“What a lot of people don’t know about that night is that Jerry Krause was actually trying to make a trade for me and Scottie Pippen, and MJ called and axed that whole deal,” related the Hall of Famer on how he was nearly a Bull.
Tracy McGrady: The Bulls tried to trade Scottie Pippen for me on draft night, but Michael Jordan vetoed the deal pic.twitter.com/eWYgMok0aZ
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) June 23, 2016
“They would have had (Tracy) McGrady, who again (was) a small college guy that Jerry (Reinsdorf) had found (who he) was pursuing for years,” continued Smith.
“They would have also had three (and) six with the Boston picks and a veteran; I don’t know which veteran it was. So, were they to get that, they probably win the next season with with that plus (Dennis) Rodman, (Michael) Jordan and the team they had. And then they get McGrady going forward, then they don’t have to go back to the bottom like they did.”
“But Reinsdorf even though Jerry (Krause) kind of greased the deal with Boston, Reinsdorf says, ‘No, we have a chance to win next season we’re going to keep it together,'” finished the Jordan biographer.
“So, he — like all owners — he’s got the last veto,” related Smith; it’s hard to say whether such a move would have worked out for the Celtics.
In a roundabout way, contracts added to the roster through dealing the players Boston would draft No. 3 and 6 (Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer) would one day bring back some of the players dealt to assemble the Banner 17 team.
Pippen was past his prime, but still a good player — would adding his name have provided enough wins to take the pressure off Pitino?
The world will never know, but in a time without basketball, at least it gives us something to ponder.
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