Danny Ainge Shoots Down Ray Allen’s Claim About Rajon Rondo Near-Trade

Danny Ainge’s message is clear: Don’t believe everything you read.

Although Ainge acknowledges he has great respect for Ray Allen, the Celtics president of basketball operations on Thursday shot down the former Boston sharpshooter’s claim that the C’s nearly traded him and Rajon Rondo to the Phoenix Suns in 2009.

Allen made the claim in his new book, “From the Outside: My Journey Through Life and the Game I Love,” saying Rondo’s issues with Boston’s front office almost caused Ainge to trade both players to Phoenix for big man Amar’e Stoudemire.

“Oh my gosh. I love Ray, and I’ll always be grateful for Ray and all that he did for the Celtics, but that is absolutely not true,” Ainge said on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Toucher and Rich.” “And I don’t know where that’s coming from, but I just wish that these guys would get themselves back together and make some peace.

“I certainly don’t like hearing about it, because there’s a lot of things that I’ve heard that are not true. So I don’t know where it’s coming from and why this issue even persists.”

There’s been plenty of drama between Allen and others members of the 2008 championship-winning Celtics, namely Rondo, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. And Ainge clearly isn’t too fond of the beef, especially since he can’t quite wrap his head around the whole thing.

“I don’t have any idea where that came from,” Ainge said of Allen’s claim about the supposed 2009 near-trade. “I don’t remember any tension there — there was no tension there — and I was never even close to trading either one of them to Phoenix.”