It seems that during every free agency and every trade deadline, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are always in the news. Some of the proposed trades do actually happen, while other gain very little traction. Here are 10 players that were supposed to have been in the green and white, but never did…..
- Wilt Chamberlain
Red Auerbach was so obsessed with Wilt the Stilt, that Red was trying to lure Chamberlain to a New England college, so that the Celtics would be able to pick him up in the territorial draft while Wilt was still in high school. Can you imagine Bill Russell AND Wilt Chamberlain on the same team? - Kevin Durant
The Celtics had the second worst record in 2007 and had high hopes of getting the #1 pick. The rage was all Greg Oden that year, but Ainge liked KD as a better long-term player. The Celtics lost big draft night and fell to #5 on the draft board and drafted Georgetown player, Jeff Green and then sent him to Seattle in exchange for Ray Allen. So, we will never know if Ainge would have actually had the guts to choose Durant over Oden with the number 1 pick. Durant also is on the list for another time in 2016 when he was a free agent. Durant had a list of teams that he was interested in meeting with, one of whom was the Boston Celtics. The Celtics pulled out all of the stops for him, even bringing Tom Brady to their pitch. In the end that just wasn’t good enough and Durant decided to go to the Warriors instead. - Monta Ellis
Back in 2010, the C’s were offered by the Golden State Warriors, Monta Ellis in exchange for Ray Allen. The Warriors saw rookie Steph Curry as their future and felt it was better if Monta went somewhere else. The Celtics at the time were looking to get younger, so they did strongly consider doing the deal, but decided in the end to stick it out with Ray instead. Would the Celtics have beaten the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals with Monta Ellis instead of Ray Allen? A tough question to answer, but an interesting one to ponder. - Dwight Howard
The Celtics tried multiple times to sign Howard in free agency but were never able to match his asking salary price. The Celtics at the time had Pierce and KG making 20+ million dollars a year, so adding a third player at that price would have made big problems for the front office. Even after Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were traded in 2012, the Celtics were still looking for ways to add Dwight Howard to the roster. Even as far as 2023, the Celtics were looking to add him as a veteran role player. After all those years and all those tries, Dwight Howard never was a Celtic. - Reggie Miller
In the 2007 offseason, in which the Celtics teamed up KG and Ray Allen with Paul Pierce, the Celtics held talks with a then 42-year old retired Reggie Miller. The Celtics were looking to add some three-point shooters to play some limited minutes, but Miller passed. - Carmelo Anthony
So, the Celtics had done a multiple player trade with the Denver Nuggets back in 2001. As part of the deal, the Celtics received a 1st round pick that could have been used anywhere from 2001-2003. The Celtics decided to use that pick in 2001 to draft community college star (that’s right they drafted a C.C. player in the lottery) on Kedrick Brown. Had the Celtics held on to that pick and waited until 2003, they could have chosen Carmelo. - Scottie Pippen
The Bulls front office were very interested in the Celtics two lottery picks back in 1997 (which ended up being Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer at #3 and #6) and offered Scottie Pippen in exchange. The Celtics did think about going through with the trade, but MJ went to the Bulls front office and told them to forget about it. - Michael Jordan
So this is by far the craziest one on the list. Back in 1988, when MJ was winning scoring titles but not having great success in the playoffs, some fans (notice we said some not all) were calling for MJ to be traded for someone who had championship experience. Jordan at the time was seen just as a monster scorer who could never lead his team to a title. Can you guess who was that player? Larry Bird, just imagine that. Larry Bird a Chicago Bull and Michael Jordan a Boston Celtics. It feels strange just reading it. - Kobe Bryant
The Celtics actually worked Kobe out before the 1996 draft, but in the end choose to draft Antoine Walker instead at pick number eight. In 2006, the Cs tried another time to score Kobe by offering Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce for Kobe at a time where both Pierce and Kobe were talking about wanting out from their teams. The Celtics tried to execute that unsuccessful trade before the 2006 draft. - Tony Parker
On draft night, the Celtics went to Parker and told him that he was going to be their late 1st round draft pick. They even gave him a Celtics hat before the pick was announced. At the last second, Parker’s Celtics hat was taken back, and the Celtics drafted North Carolina guard Joe Forte instead. Forte played just 25 games in the NBA (averaging 0.8 points per game) while Parker won four NBA championships and is one of the top 100 greatest players of all time.