The Celtics gave up more in the Kyrie Irving trade than any NBA team has in years

The Cleveland Cavaliers, who didn’t have a general manager for much of this offseason and had their All-Star point guard publicly pushing for a trade, somehow pulled off a heist. And they did it to Danny Ainge, of all people.

The Boston Celtics will give up Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 first-round pick to get Kyrie Irving, as USA TODAY Sports’ Sam Amick reported. If that sounds like a lot, it is. To review, the Celtics are giving up:

Thomas: An All-Star point guard who was one of the most efficient offensive players in the NBA last season and arguably was better than Irving outright. Crowder: A do-everything forward who has rated as a top-30 player in Real Plus-Minus the past two seasons and can play and defend either forward slot. Zizic: A promising 20-year-old Croatian big man who had a rough Summer League but was Boston’s 23rd overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft and spent last season overseas. The Nets’ pick: The last piece of Ainge’s brutal 2013 fleecing, when he traded aging stars Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry for three unprotected first-rounders and a pick swap that gutted the Nets’ future and means next year’s pick likely will be in the top five.

It’s impossible not to bring up the 2013 Celtics-Nets trade in discussing this one, both because of the pick and because of the fact that we haven’t seen a trade this overwhelming since.

In the ensuing four years, five established stars have been traded:

Chris Paul for Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, Sam Dekker, Darrun Hilliard, DeAndre Liggins and a first-rounder Paul George for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis Jimmy Butler (with the No. 16 pick) for Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and the No. 7 pick DeMarcus Cousins and Omri Casspi for Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, a protected first-rounder and a second-rounder Kevin Love for Andrew Wiggins, Thaddeus Young and Anthony Bennett

This offseason obviously has been loaded with action. Yet none of the teams on the receiving end of the star in question gave up anything close to what the Celtics did. The Celtics’ package will be enough for the Cavaliers to stay atop the Eastern Conference while also helping them rebuild in case LeBron James leaves.

Compare this package to what the New York Knicks gave up for Carmelo Anthony or Nets gave up for Deron Williams, and you’re a bit closer to the truth. The Nets-Utah Jazz trade would have looked significantly more brutal had Enes Kanter panned out in Utah, while the Knicks handed the Denver Nuggets a core that won 57 games two years later.

But none of those teams gave up a player like Thomas, who already was an All-Star with a proven killer instinct and penchant for big moments. Even if you don’t think Thomas is better than Irving — that’s a stretch, given his extreme defensive ineptitude — he’s at least close enough to make this trade a head-scratcher.

Cleveland now is in position to say to James that he should stay because the franchise not only has the types of role players he needs to win now — including a go-to second scoring option in Thomas and a player in Crowder who can take a lot of defensive onus off James’ plate — but also in the future, when they could add one of the five elite-tier prospects expected to headline the 2018 NBA Draft.

The Celtics’ logic, then, must hinge on three things:

They didn’t want to lock Thomas, who turns 29 next season, up for the long term. His incredibly cheap contract comes to an end after this season, and he could push for a max or near-max deal. That fits with ESPN reporting that the Celtics expect Irving to stay past his 2019 free agency. They feel good enough about their young core — headlined by swingmen Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, the No. 3 picks of the past two drafts — to move forward without Crowder, Zizic and the last Nets pick. They believe Irving has a lot of untapped potential, which seems entirely possible given that he’s 25 and point guards tend to peak a bit later than other positions. Irving’s value is a constant source of debate because he’s been sheltered in playing next to James for three years.

Those are reasonable points. Thomas’ health could be an issue, too, because of a hip issue, and very short players have typically aged poorly.

Still, this package seems way too large. Consider what Sports Illustrated called a fair package from the Celtics for Irving a few weeks ago:

Zizic as that “filler salary” and no lottery protections on the pick basically make this the super-sized version of that offer. It’s a ton to give up for a single player. We’ll now have to see if Irving can prove he’s worth it.

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