While Jackson, who was taken fourth by Phoenix, said he would enjoy playing in Boston during his Wednesday media session, his actions did not show that desire.

And he offered some insight as to why the organization chose Tatum over fellow freshman prospect Josh Jackson, who was a Celtics target until offering indications he did not want to play in Boston.

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said he came away encouraged after the club took four players in Thursday’s NBA Draft, including third overall pick Jayson Tatum of Duke.

“We never talked with Josh, no one in our organization did,” Ainge said early Friday morning after the draft. “Someone wrote that was different but that’s not the case. They canceled a workout on us, when we flew out to Sacramento and they just decided to cancel it as we flew. (Coach) Brad (Stevens), (assistant general manager) Mike Zarren and I flew cross country. So there was something he didn’t want to play for the Celtics.

“In spite of that, we watched Josh for two years and we’re fans. He’s a terrific kid and a good player.”


The Celtics brass said they still considered taking Jackson.

“We try to not overreact to those types of things and make a big deal about it,” Ainge said. “Agents and players have all sorts of motivations to get to certain places as we’ve seen in past. Last year (former Providence guard) Kris Dunn didn’t want to come here. We didn’t hold it against him. We felt like we were just taking the player that we wanted. I think the same thing this time. I don’t think we were trying to penalize Josh too much.

“We didn’t get to see him or talk to him face-to-face.”

When asked of his emotions after being stood up, Ainge said: “Well there were thoughts, I was mad. We flew cross country. We had to get up at 4 o’clock in the morning and fly back home.”


When asked what he did in the meantime, Ainge said: “There’s nothing to do in Sacramento. I might get in trouble (with that statement).”

Ainge said he was happy with the Tatum pick, although he spent most of his evening in trade talks for Paul George and Kristaps Porzingis. Neither talks were close, according to NBA sources.

“We never intended to trade this pick, it was always our intention to keep it,” Ainge said. “No matter who you are, you’re going to be in trade discussions all around the league. Some of the best players in the league are discussed. Some of the greatest players of all time have been traded. That’s the nature of the business.

“There’s deals that I would like to do. But I’m feeling great about where we are today. We’ll live to fight another day tomorrow and get ready for July.”