Everyone knows the 2013 trade between the Brooklyn Nets and the Boston Celtics turned out poorly for Brooklyn. It turns out, it’s worse than we thought.
The Brooklyn Nets trade with the Boston Celtics turned out to be one of the worst trades in NBA history. The Nets wanted to get veterans Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in order to make a run at a title. Things didn’t quite work out for the Nets and the Celtics made out like bandits.
Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck appeared on the Bill Simmons Podcast. He shed light on how he and Celtics’ general manager Danny Ainge squeezed as much out of the Nets as they possibly could.
When Ainge said they had a deal in place to secure two draft picks, Grousbeck responded, “I said ‘great, let’s go get a third pick.’”
Ainge was skeptical, but the Nets obliged and were willing to part with a third unprotected pick. To Ainge’s surprise, Grousbeck wanted more. He told Ainge, “go get a fourth pick.”
As it turned out, the Nets wouldn’t part ways with a fourth pick, but they were open to a pick swap. That pick ended up turning into the first overall pick, which was subsequently traded and eventually turned into Jayson Tatum.
The 2013 trade between the Celtics and Nets came about via an evolution. Wyc Grousbeck explains to @BillSimmons how Brooklyn’s “deal fever” worked in the Boston's favor. pic.twitter.com/nL9MoMyIQx
— The Ringer (@ringer) May 13, 2018
The Nets escaped the first round of the playoffs with Pierce and Garnett, but that was the extent of their success with the Nets. Pierce was gone after one season and Garnett was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves midway through his second season in Brooklyn.
The Celtics on the other hand, kickstarted their rebuild with their new picks. They turned two of those picks into Jaylen Brown and Tatum. While the Nets are in Los Angeles working out and building team chemistry, Brown and Tatum are gearing up to face off with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It’s ironic that the Nets made this deal in order to chase a championship, but the Celtics have made the Eastern Conference Finals twice since this deal and the Nets have only won a single playoff series in total.
