Report: Danny Ainge Willing to Wait at Least 10 More Games Before Seriously Exploring Big Three Trade Options

by Conrad Kaczmarek on Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 5:55PM

The Celtics have struggled in the early part of the 2011-12 NBA season. The aging core of the team seems to have taken a step back this year and the initial result is 5-8 record entering Friday's game with the Suns.

If the playoffs started today, the Celtics would be left out of the postseason for the first time since 2007, the year before they acquired The Big Three.

Several years later, president Danny Ainge now has to figure out what to do about the future of the franchise. Trade rumors have surrounded nearly every significant player on the current roster however, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports that Ainge is not going to overreact — yet.

"League sources say Celtics president Danny Ainge is willing to wait at least 10 more games, and maybe longer, before deciding whether it's time to seriously pursue trade scenarios that would break up the Big Three," Berger writes.

Berger also believes that Pierce is the most valuable piece of the Big Three, but does note that the remaining two years and $32 million on Pierce's contract may complicate things.

A rival general manager also told Berger that he doesn't expect the C's to blow things up and may end up being a tough team to face in the playoffs, even if they're a seven or eight seed.

Ainge is going to stick with the veterans that brought Boston an NBA championship in 2008 for now, but in the lockout-shortened 66-game season, the Celtics might need to make a permanent decision sooner rather than later.