Before he was "Big Shot Bob," Robert Horry was simply trade bait. For the Rockets of 1993-95, that turned out to be a blessing.

In February 1994, Houston traded Horry and forward Matt Bullard to Detroit for All-Star wing Sean Elliott, who had struggled in his first season with the Pistons. The deal was done, Horry had gone to Detroit, received his new jersey and sat for a game with his new teammates before the league made the trade official.

But when the Rockets’ doctors detected a kidney ailment for Elliott — who had only missed 13 games in his first four NBA seasons — the trade was rescinded. The Rockets took back Horry and Bullard.

What happened next should be of note to Danny Ainge and today’s Celtics.

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Horry averaged 11.4 points, making 48.8 percent of his shots and 39.7 percent of his 3s after the failed trade. He had seen himself mostly as a defensive specialist before the deal but took the trade as a catalyst to show what he could do offensively. He was averaging 8.3 points when the move fell through on just 43.1 percent shooting, 25.0 percent from the 3-point line. From there, Horry became a critical factor in driving the Rockets to the 1994 championship, and to their repeat performance in 1995.

Jim Boylen, an assistant coach on that team, once told me, “He was not happy about being traded, and he was probably a little hurt, but he was a professional all the way about it. It drove him, it lit a fire under him and we benefited from that.”

The Cavaliers have until Wednesday to decide what to do with the trade to which they agreed with the Celtics last week, which would send All-Star guard Kyrie Irving to Boston for a package of All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas, forward Jae Crowder, center Ante Zizic and Brooklyn’s unprotected pick in next year’s draft.

Cleveland has put the deal on hold because of questions around Thomas’ hip, but the Cavs would be willing to go forward with the deal if the Celtics add another asset — say, Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, the No. 3 picks in the last two drafts.

They shouldn’t. The Celtics are already giving up too much in this trade, and it would set a poor precedent to cave into the demands of a trading partner in this case — when the teams agreed to the trade, the Cavaliers already knew that Thomas was recovering from a hip injury, and this new demand has the air of extortion about it.

The Cavs may feel they have the Celtics over a barrel here, that to undo this trade and figure out how to welcome back Thomas and Crowder after very publicly sending them elsewhere would be devastating to the Celtics’ chemistry while still leaving open the possibility for Cleveland to deal Irving to another team. Should the Cavs pull back the trade, then deal Irving to Phoenix or New York or anywhere else, they’d have succeeded in moving Irving while also wreaking havoc with Boston, their top challenger in the East.

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But don’t assume that taking Thomas and Crowder back would crush the Celtics. Thomas is, after all, a professional and has worn his sense of disrespect — he was the 60th overall pick, remember, and he has been traded three times now, including the Cavs deal — like a badge during his NBA tenure. He will also be a free agent next summer. If he returns to Boston, it would behoove him to maintain the level he showed last year, when he vaulted himself into MVP candidacy with his 28.9 points and 5.9 assists per game. (Crowder, for his part, was already slated to see a reduced role with the addition of Gordon Hayward and drafting of Tatum. Should the Cavs deal fall apart, Crowder might still be traded.)

If Thomas winds up back in Boston, it’s a safe bet he will take the same kind of approach that Horry did 23 years ago. Rather than venting about the failed trade, Horry simply took his Pistons jersey and hung it in his bedroom. He used that to fuel the rest of his 1994 season, and the Rockets’ run in the playoffs, which ended with a seven-game win over the Knicks in the NBA Finals.

The Celtics would still be a longshot to win it all, with LeBron James still in Cleveland and the Warriors still humming in the West. But there’s no reason to think Thomas won’t be able to slide back into his team-leading role in Boston, not with as much as he has at stake in the coming season.

As Horry said about his Pistons jersey after the Detroit deal, “My feelings weren't hurt about the trade, because I look at this league as a business. But I think about what could have happened every day I walk into my bedroom.”

If the Cavaliers want more, the Celtics should simply take Thomas back and hope that he hangs a Cleveland jersey above his bed.