The Boston Celtics trade that broke up the ball club’s 2008 title core by sending future Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets in the summer of 2013 has long been regarded by fans as among the most uneven ever executed in NBA history, and for good reason.
Not only did the Celtics send Garnett, Pierce, DJ White, and Jason Terry and a 2017 first round draft pick to the Nets for Keith Bogans, MarShon Brooks, Kris Humphries, Kris Joseph, Gerald Wallace, and three first round draft picks and two pick swaps, they also served as the now-common draft approach of rebuilding using some other team’s draft capital as well.
Such was part of the focus of a recent Hoops Hype article diving into some of the most lopsided trades in league history.
This Thursday afternoon, the league released the results from the first round of 2023 NBA All-Star Game fan voting returns. https://t.co/iFcpOtLuWn
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 7, 2023
“The one example in which we have of a team going through the entire cycle of acquiring multiple draft picks and seeing them through is Boston,” writes H/H’s Yossi Gozlan.
“In 2013, they acquired a package featuring three unprotected first-round picks and a pick swap from the Nets for a group of veterans mainly featuring Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.”
And we propose our favorite of the trio. https://t.co/5xWhmJd0vc
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 7, 2023
“This deal could be identified as the original ‘all-in’ trade involving multiple unprotected first-round picks in the modern era,” he adds.
“At the time, no such comparable trade involving that many future unprotected picks had been consummated since the implementation of the Stepien rule. The Nets arguably experienced the worst-case scenario in this deal having given up a 1st overall, 3rd overall (swapped for 27th overall), 8th overall, and 17th overall selections while only winning one playoff series.”
“The core quickly disappeared as the Nets decided to pivot to a rebuild and save money after making enormous luxury tax payments,” notes Gozlan.
Drawing on his time playing with Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, GM Danny Ainge brought together Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. https://t.co/VqpqrTQS7D
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 6, 2023
“The Celtics had an embarrassment of riches not only from this deal but also from deconstructing their roster between 2013-2015,” he continues.
“They drafted Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown using picks from the Nets trade, which alone made the deal work out for them. This allowed them to both be in a rebuild while being competitive at the same time. Since drafting Brown and Tatum, the Celtics have made three Eastern Conference Finals appearances in five years, including one trip to the Finals.”
“They remain a heavy favorite to win the championship this season,” suggests the Hoops Hype cap expert.
Boston big man legend Robert Parish on how yoga helped save his NBA career https://t.co/g64igK3Lg3
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 6, 2023
After cracking the seal the Stepien Rule was created to help prevent, increasingly creative general managers around the league have tried their own iteration of such a deal with varying results in return.
As tends to be the case in the NBA, even the best-intended means of protecting teams from themselves can be circumvented with enough creativity emanating from the brilliant minds in many of the league’s front offices.
But as is usually the case in any field, there have also been costly misteps by clubs who have tried their hand at such a template as Gozlan notes elsewhere in his article.
Celtics Lab 163: Previewing Boston’s games with Mavs, Bulls, All-Star starters with Michael Mulford https://t.co/IUcxk5hjiJ
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 5, 2023
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