One of funniest parts of the Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis trade was that Danny Ainge (finally) played a part in facilitating a Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis pairing. When Ainge was President of Basketball Operations for the Celtics, he had always wanted to get Irving and Davis in green.
In 2018, there were reports that Davis and Irving talked about joining forces in Boston. It wasn’t known at the time was that Kevin Durant was a part of those plans, too. Kyrie revealed those discussions on Tuesday night after the Mavericks lost to the 76ers.
Kyrie Irving said he, Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant talked about playing together in Boston back in 2018, with the hope to do so eventually alongside Jayson Tatum.
“It was a dream for Kyrie, AD, KD to be on one team and still keep JT and let him grow and then see how it goes.” pic.twitter.com/TSAYnNjPQY
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) February 5, 2025
“We all had that vision to play together,” Irving said. “Danny Ainge had a large responsibility in that, trying to make it happen, make sure I stayed in Boston. But we had some young pieces in JT and JB and if we would have traded either of them who knows if they win a championship. So, the franchise had to do what was best for them, and I had to do what was best for me.”
When he was asked if the plan was for himself, Davis and Durant to team up in Boston, Kyrie added, “in 2018, it was a dream for Kyrie, AD, KD to be on one team and still keep JT, let him grow and see how it goes. But back then, those young guys weren’t ready to be in trade rumors, man. Our locker room splintered after that, once they found out. It wasn’t JB or JT, but our locker room splintered after they found out about those trade rumors and our season went in a whole different direction.”
It would have been interesting to see those three players team up on the Celtics, while keeping a young Tatum on the team. They would have, in all likelihood, been one of the best teams in the NBA and competed for several championships.
I don’t think that there are many Celtics fans who would have traded this timeline of events for that one. I certainly wouldn’t.
