While the Celtics were ultimately not interested in DeMarcus Cousins, all indications from around the NBA are that Danny Ainge remains very much in pursuit of a marquee talent to significantly alter the club’s fortunes.

The question for Ainge and his peers now is whether the Cousins deal will set forth an avalanche of transactions or, because of the backlash Sacramento is taking for accepting so little, chill the market.

The Kings had been asking for the moon in exchange for their best player, but things seemed to move quickly over the last few says. And instead of waiting until Thursday’s deadline in hopes the offers would improve, Sacramento accepted Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway and first- and second-round picks this June for Cousins and Omri Casspi.

“On one hand, that’s a pretty major guy to be dealt like that, so maybe it’ll loosen things up and guys will be more willing to talk about bigger trades,” said one league executive. “On the other hand, Vlade (Divac, the Kings’ GM) is getting killed on this. So maybe some guys will get a little gun-shy.”

The lack of a push on Cousins from the Celtics may be revealing in itself. There was a time when sources insisted the Celts found him appealing, but not to the degree where they’d give up either of the first rounders owed them by Brooklyn. Now it’s fair to infer that the scouting report the C’s got from Isaiah Thomas on his former teammate was not encouraging for his fit here. In fact, sources have indicated that to be the case.

Questions about Cousins’ ability to control himself were clearly an overriding factor in both the Kings’ willingness to move him and the paltry offers they received. There is a huge disparity of views on the All-Star center from around the league, with even those who believe he can get it together emotionally in the right situation openly wondering whether such a situation exists.

When we wrote about Cousins here in December, we quoted a source as saying, “Yeah, he’s crazy, but so are most of the guys in this league. Is he a little extra crazy? Probably. But is he good enough to make you OK with that? That’s the question.”

Even those around the Sacramento organization who got along fairly well with Cousins, particularly away from the court, spoke of emotional problems that made him a risky bet for any club.

The Celtics, meanwhile, are still looking for a consistent volume scorer and a big man who can offer rim protection while not hindering the offensive flow.

Brad Stevens, coming off the assignment as coach of the Eastern Conference All-Stars, isn’t quite sure how this week will shake out.

“I mean, really good players are hard to find, right?” he said. “And we’ve got a good thing going with a good group of guys. We haven’t talked in great detail or great specifics yet. I’m sure we will, but I think we know where our team needs to get better. We need to foul a little bit less, and we need to make sure we’re rebounding at a better rate, defending at a better rate.

“And if we can get there through the guys we have in the locker room, that’d be preferable. If we can get there with one small tweak, then that helps, too.”

Looking at the range of eventualities, from a major trade that requires wholesale reworking of the rotation to a lesser deal or even none, the coach, now in his fourth NBA season, knows the deadline routine.

“I’ve learned to prepare as well as I can for the future, but do my job on the fly if need be,” he said.

As nerve-wracking as this week can be for a coach, Stevens’ greater concern is elsewhere.

“I’m nervous for them, for the players,” he said. “These guys are people who have invested a lot in organizations and invested a lot of time in their own game, and especially if you’ve found a really good fit, you want to keep that fit. Some guys probably across the league are wanting to be traded, but at the end of the day, that’s probably not the case very often. You always feel for the people that are involved, because there is a human involved.”