How Jimmy Butler Trade Would Have Kept Celtics From Landing Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum

The Boston Celtics were linked to multiple All-Stars during Danny Ainge’s tenure, and he revealed he almost pulled the trigger on this current Miami Heat player.

Ainge debunked the idea of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as a package deal for Anthony Davis, but the Utah Jazz CEO always regretted not drafting Jimmy Butler in the 2011 NBA Draft, and he had a chance for a do-over by trading for Butler.

In the end, Ainge opted against making the blockbuster, a decision the worked out pretty well for Boston in the end.

“Some of the best trades I ever made were the ones that I wasn’t able to make,” Ainge told former NBA player Quentin Richardson on his podcast, per The Players’ Tribune. “I was trying to get Jimmy Butler from Chicago when I was in Boston, but they wanted a lot. And so we didn’t do it. It ended up would’ve been Jaylen and Jayson, both those draft picks. … I loved Jimmy and was trying to get him. Could have drafted Jimmy, late. I liked him even then. He’d been proving that, how good of a player he was. That was probably one (regret).”

Butler made two NBA Finals in his first four seasons in Miami compared to the one NBA Finals appearance Brown and Tatum made in their first seven years as teammates.

Still, it’s far too early to say Ainge should’ve traded the draft picks that became Tatum and Brown for Butler. It makes for another interesting what-if for Ainge’s tenure in Boston.

Brown’s name was brought up in trade talks last offseason for Kevin Durant, but Ainge’s successor, Brad Stevens, didn’t pull the trigger with the Brooklyn Nets. The Celtics instead eventually locked up Brown to a five-year, supermax deal, and he likely will do the same with Jayson Tatum next offseason.