It was a huge surprise when Danny Ainge stepped down from his role as president of basketball operations for the Celtics.
Many anticipated he’d be in Boston for years and years to come, but COVID-19 was difficult on many, and he perhaps believed all the negativity he faced last year just wasn’t worth the bologna anymore. Life is short.
But if he’s decides he jumped the gun and retired too soon, a nice job with the Portland Trail Blazers now is available.
Ainge, from Oregon originally, played with the Trail Blazers in the early 90s. But even with all his history there, does he actually want to give up his life of leisure?
Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, who stirred up speculation that Ainge would get a call after Portland fired Neil Olshey on Friday, weighed in.
“I think there will definitely be phone calls exchanged between the Portland Trailblazers and Danny Ainge,” Mannix told NBC Sports Boston on the pregame show.
“The big question I have is does Danny Ainge want to do that job again? Does he want to assume all the responsibility that goes in with being a general manager, which as we know, is really a 24/7, 365 type job. To do at the highest level you’ve got to travel the globe and scour these international markets for draft picks. You’ve got to go to college games. You’ve got to do a whole lot of things that Danny Ainge kind of got tired of toward his end run in Boston. Right now. I’m told Danny Ainge is very much enjoying life, playing a lot of golf. He’s in contact with people in the service organization at times, and has been over the course of this season. But when that phone call is made, or if that phone call is made to Danny Ainge, I’ll be very curious to how receptive he is to jumping back into a top operational role once again.”
Since Ainge’s retirement in June he’s been linked to the Utah Jazz, though that didn’t come to fruition.
But an opportunity to go back home to manage a team with pieces like Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkić will prove to be a truer test — even if Lillard’s days are likely numbered there.
