SALT LAKE CITY — One NBA source put in a call to the Celtics late Wednesday and found the team’s top brass was engaged in a meeting.

The source was intrigued. He wondered whether Danny Ainge was in the process of dropping a bomb, moving assets for a superstar in a deal that would rock the NBA. He wondered about the identity of said superstar.

Then the source learned the subject of the meeting.

The Celtics were going over plans for the summer and next season.

The league’s trade deadline wasn’t entirely that quiet for the Bostonians, but for all the efforts to make their dreams of landing a transformative talent come true, when they weren’t able to get precisely what they wanted, they decided to leave their assets in their pocket.

“There was a lot of action,” said Ainge of this year’s deadline. “I think it was similar to others, maybe not as chaotic. But it always gets chaotic about 2:15 when teams try to throw in a trade that they have going on and they need a third team or second-round pick for this or that.”

According to Herald sources, the Celtics did check on the availability of just about every major star, which is par for the course for most teams — though in the case of the C’s they had the currency in picks and players to lessen the ‘are-you-kidding-me?’ factor.

Said one league exec, “It’s like they took the All-Star roster and used it as Match.com.”

In addition to those in the highest constellation, the Celts also looked into players such as Brooklyn’s Thaddeus Young. There was a report the C’s were talking about a three-team deal with Cleveland and New Orleans that would have netted them Kevin Love, but no such negotiations took place.

As for how near the Celtics were to an agreement on anything, Ainge said, “You know, it’s hard to know what the other side would say in how close we came. We feel like we came close to doing some things, but ultimately we didn’t, so I’m not sure it really matters. We spent a lot of time and put a lot of effort in, and I think my staff did a fantastic job, but we really didn’t get anything accomplished that we were looking to do, because there were no deals that we thought were good enough to do.

“I feel that we have an opportunity in the spring and during the summer to make our team better — much better than the opportunity that we had at this time in February. So we’re anxious for the spring and summer to have another crack at it.”

Talks regarding other players that were said to be in the Celtics mix never really got off the ground.

Unless they could get him at their (read: bargain) price, the C’s didn’t want Dwight Howard because, beyond the questions about his health and general approach to the game, they weren’t going to pay him what he’d want if/when he opts out of his contract this summer.

There was a similar financial question with Al Horford, who will be an unrestricted free agent after this season.

“I know you always have to look at guys like that,” said one team’s head of basketball ops, “but I don’t see where either one of them really makes sense for Boston. Horford’s good, but he’s going to be 30 next season, so unless you can get the bigger piece and go for it right away, is he going to be the same guy when you have a chance to go for it a few years down the line?

“And Howard? Everyone talks about the physical stuff with him and if he can play back-to-backs and all that, but it’s even simpler than that for me. I don’t think he’s necessarily a bad guy, but is he playing for Dwight Howard or is he playing for you? I mean, just look at how things have played out where he’s been. It’s not a good look.”

Ainge didn’t address specific players or their issues, but he made it clear he didn’t want to simply rent a free agent-to-be for the rest of this season.

“I know that the risks were more than we were willing to do, and that’s why we didn’t do any deals obviously,” he said. “But I think that contract length definitely plays a factor into it, security and what sort of risks you’re taking. But we also feel like there are other opportunities to have more surety in what we’re doing in what deals we’re making.

“We’re not in the business of making a 27-game gain for a long-term price to pay.”

Ainge did acknowledge that the first-round picks the Celts have from Brooklyn were made available in certain instances this week.

“I think that everyone knows what the value of those picks are, and I think that everybody in the league would like to have a pick in the top echelon of the draft,” he said. “But there certainly are players that would be worth trading an unknown draft pick for right now, so we did have some discussion in regard to that. There’s some players that did get our attention and some that did not get our attention in regard to that pick.”

It was reported here that this year’s Brooklyn first-rounder, expected to be in the top six at worst, was on the table for a Blake Griffin or other such young and perennial All-Star, but not for Howard, Horford or Love.

It’s a decision Ainge will have to make again before the June 23 draft when the Celtics may also have the Dallas pick (protected 1-7) and their own.

“We have a long time before then, and we have other options to move picks for other things,” Ainge said. “We’ll have other opportunities between now and the draft to move picks, consolidate picks, trade for future picks or, as we study the players more in the draft over these next few months, we’ll have a better idea of who those players are and what numbers they’ll be available at.”

Asked if he believes it will then be time to consider combing assets to make a more dramatic trade, Ainge said, “I feel like we’re at that stage now and maybe even at the last draft of trying to do something. We’re trying to make good decisions, and I think we made good decisions at this time this year. It would be nice to cash in on some of the assets that we have, and it might be that we draft our three first-round picks. Those may be the best assets that are available to us, depending on how good the draft is and what we can get and depending on what other offers are there.”

In more immediate business, Ainge will be speaking with David Lee and his agent, Mark Bartelstein, to work on a buyout for the 32-year-old forward. The sides had said they would do so if Lee wasn’t traded — and his inclusion was only going to happen if his contract was needed to make a deal with a star work.

There is no great benefit to letting Lee go, but, if he’s not going to play here, Ainge doesn’t want to see an 11-year veteran tied to the pine. Lee will get a chance to see if there’s a place for him in the rotation of a team with stronger postseason aspirations than the Celts, but NBA rules prevent him from going back to Golden State this season.