The Celtics have chosen the status quo at the trade deadline, though, according to league sources, there is question about just how much of that was by actual choice.

What’s clear is that by not being able to deal for a significant talent at this time, Danny Ainge has turned up the pressure on himself to have a very big summer.

The word from around the league, over the last several days in particular, was that Ainge was growing very protective of this year’s Nets pick and the ability to be a player in free agency. Though some took that as a posturing, others who dealt with him believed it to be the case when the Celts held the line in certain negotiations.

Ainge will have another chance to remake his roster in the days leading up to the June 22 draft, and that picture will come into greater focus in the May 16 draft lottery. But if he is unable to make a trade for a needed star at that time, he and the Celtics will be staring down the barrel on draft night and in the free agent signing period.

As it stands, the Nets will be delivering no worse than a top four pick in what is said to be a strong draft. While it is certainly true that teams have tanked their season to get a shot like this — process-trusting and all that — it will nonetheless be incumbent on Ainge to hit on this choice. In a year with potentially transformative players in the top reaches, Ainge has to get one.

And even if he does, there will be further burden to make a score in the free agent market. NBA sources said the Celts were very reticent to give up their ability to sign a maximum-level player this summer, and it will be interesting to see whether they have a fair expectation of success in this area.

Ainge was most definitely not able to get what he was seeking this week, at least not at the price he was willing to pay. In the cases of their two biggest targets, Paul George and Jimmy Butler, there were roadblocks they and the other clubs were unable to overcome.

According to sources, the Celtics did include the Nets’ first-round picks (2017 in a swap positions scenario, 2018 unencumbered) separately in their offers. The Chicago negotiations, which have been going on in some form for more than a year, were difficult on a number of fronts, the first of which was the Bulls’ tough choice of whether to even make him available. After taking the ’17 Nets pick off the table, the Celtics were said to be willing to include it, albeit with protections. But things truly dissolved when Chicago, looking to remain competitive in its rebuild, couldn’t find common ground with the C’s on the number and quality of core players that would be involved in the deal.

The first choice of both the Bulls and Pacers was to keep their star and build around him, but Indiana’s move to listen to offers for George was short-circuited by reports that his plans were to either win in Indy or go home to the Lakers as a free agent after next season.

That pretty much ended the fight for the Celtics — and everyone else — at the deadline. Beyond that, the C’s were unable to get P.J. Tucker from Phoenix (he went to Toronto), and word from a Western Conference source is that Memphis ultimately chose not to make JaMychal Green available.

The Celts really weren’t in on anything else of substance.

Anger on the part of some over the failure to go after DeMarcus Cousins is curious on two counts. One, the Celtics have a former Cousins teammate on the roster, and one would think they would have made a play if Isaiah Thomas had told Ainge the talented-but-impulsive center would be a great fit here. Second, in that the C’s weren’t going to surrender this year’s Nets pick, they likely wouldn’t have been able to give Sacramento the ’17 first-rounder it wanted as part of the package. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive was also said to be enamored of Buddy Hield, which allowed the front office to sell him on the deal with New Orleans.

Through it all, the Celtics maintained a stance that projected a seemingly odd confidence about the offseason in a business with so much uncertainty. As for whether Ainge believes he has this thing wired, be advised that some of his peers are wary.

“Danny wasn’t taking the Nets picks or really anything off the table,” said one league executive, “but the fact he was so comfortable waiting for the draft and summer scares the (expletive) out of me.”

Of course, that doesn’t help the Celtics in the present as the Raptors and Wizards improved their rotations. If the sole goal was to get incrementally better right now, the Celts clearly failed. But it’s obvious to Ainge and most everyone else that, without a deal for Butler or George, this team is a sound underdog in a playoff series against a healthy Cleveland.

So if you aren’t going to compete for a championship this season, is there anything you were after now in the market that won’t be there in June — and maybe even at a better price?

If they keep the pick, the Celts will draft in a zone from which most franchise players are derived. But even that will require some measure of patience.

The Celtics got Jaylen Brown out of the No. 3 overall pick last year from the Nets, and it’s interesting to note that, while two years younger at a similar stage, his rookie season compares very favorably to what Butler did in his first two years. There is evidence to suggest better players are at the top of this June’s dispersal, but the C’s still have to make the right pick.

Ainge could have avoided that by pushing his chips into the middle for either Butler or George, giving the Celtics following the splash it desired. But by folding these cards and waiting for the next hand, he’s probably shown more brass — well-founded or not.

Now, rather than being able to fall back on the need for a worthy dance partner to make a big trade, he will be dealing with the draft and free agency, where it’s all on his ability to make the right pick and, in the latter case, convince a marquee player to come to the Celtics.