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Boston Celtics: 5 best trades Danny Ainge ever made

By Adam Bradford

BOSTON, MA - FEBRUARY 14: Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge looks on before action between the Boston Celtics and the LA Clippers at TD Garden on February 14, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - FEBRUARY 14: Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge looks on before action between the Boston Celtics and the LA Clippers at TD Garden on February 14, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images) /
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1. Boson Celtics getting Kevin Garnett (2007)

While Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown might eventually lead the Celtics to a title, Ainge’s best trade was the one that already has a banner in the rafters as a result of it.

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After not winning anything for the first decade of Paul Pierce’s Celtics career, Ainge finally got Pierce the help that he needed in the summer of 2007, when he pulled off a blockbuster deal for another future Hall-of-Famer: Kevin Garnett.

Garnett proved to be exactly the big man that the Celtics needed to reach the next level. In his first season in Boston, Garnett was an All-NBA first-teamer and won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year Award. Alongside Pierce and Ray Allen, Garnett helped lead the Celtics to a dominant season and an NBA title.

After the 2008 title season, Garnett would go on to play five more seasons in Boston, making four more All-Star Games, and leading the Celtics back to the NBA Finals in 2010, as well as within one game of a third Finals trip in 2012.

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Despite the fact that he only played six years in Boston, Garnett accomplished enough during that time to establish himself as an all-time Celtics great, thus rendering this as easily the best deal of Danny Ainge’s career.

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