Kevin McHale had just flown home Thursday after working the Trail Blazers-Nuggets game for TNT the night before. He’d caught the news that Danny Ainge had suffered a mild heart attack in Milwaukee Tuesday night and was looking for more information.

“Myself, I’m just concerned about my buddy,” said McHale, who’s been close with Ainge since the latter joined the Celtics early in the 1981-82 season.

“I had no idea. But looking back, I was trying to get hold of him [Wednesday] and I never heard back. That’s strange, because I always hear back from Danny either right away or in a little while.”

Beyond not knowing Ainge had suffered a medical event, McHale was also unaware that Danny’s family had taken away his cell phone. Ainge, as the Celts’ president of basketball operations, is said to have wanted to keep it and stay connected, but he was overruled.

The fact this is Ainge’s second such episode after suffering a mild heart attack 10 years ago may be increasing his family’s concern — if that’s possible.

“Danny’s a really good friend of mine. I just hate to see him and Michelle and the kids and everybody have to go through this,” said McHale. “But they’re saying it’s a mild heart attack, so hopefully he’s better and everything works out all right. But Danny’s not in bad shape, I mean, at all.”

That’s what catches even those close to him off guard. While likely we could all live healthier lifestyles, Ainge does not appear from the outside to be a high risk candidate. But clearly, as it’s been explained, he has some internal dispositions that leave him susceptible to heart trouble.

McHale, who has held the same position as Ainge in the NBA, doesn’t discount the stress of the job. But he doesn’t believe that’s an issue here.

“Danny’s created a really fun work environment,” McHale said. “He likes his work. He really understands what the owners want, and he talks to them all the time.

“You’ve got to know Danny how fun he is and how much he’s really enjoying himself. It’s a stressful job, but I would say Danny has probably got the best perspective of anyone in the league on that job and what’s going on. Like I said, the job can be stressful, but I think Danny handles it as well as he can, and I think having Austin [his son is the Celtics’ director of player personnel] working there with him, I can just tell how much he enjoys it and how well they work together.”

But if this latest incident came as a surprise, such was the case even more so with the first. In 2009, he was found to have a fully clogged artery and had a stent inserted to alleviate the problem.

Following that, Ainge eased up on his proclivity for comfort foods. While he continues to be a regular patron of Chipotle, he had backed off the burgers and such.

Two weeks after suffering that first heart attack, he cracked, “Flat Patties in Cambridge may have to get in on that government bailout.”

But friends have been saying for a while that he’s gotten less vigilant over these last years.

According to one cardiologist, however, a second heart attack is usually the wake-up call. Patients can get comfortable after surviving the first and going back to their regular lifestyle. The second reminds one that the wolf is always at the door.

Back in November in a conversation with the Herald, Ainge said he had no thoughts of leaving the job based on the ’09 heart attack.

“No,” he said, “but I think the health issues always make you look at things differently. I mean, they make you put things in perspective. But if I wasn’t enjoying what I’m doing, I’d for sure be gone. But there’s probably also a time when I feel like it’s better for the team if I move on and do something different. I have no idea when that is, but there may come that time.”

According to everyone around the Celtics on Thursday, that time is not now. Ainge is expected to be back involved soon.

Before McHale hung up to call Austin Ainge, he acknowledged that he’ll soon be getting on his old pal to smarten up.

“I remember he didn’t want to go to the hospital the first time,” McHale said. “You know, he didn’t think there was anything wrong. He thought he just had the flu. And I was like, ‘Man, you scared the hell out of me. Now every time I get the flu, I’m going to think it’s something worse.’

“I’m just hoping he takes care of himself. That’s my buddy.”