Danny Ainge has spent more than two decades turning front-office leverage into franchise-changing deals, and his best work with the Celtics and Jazz still shapes both teams today. From a title push in Boston to a rebuild in Utah, the moves on his résumé range from bold to ruthless. The five biggest standouts, according to NBA Analysis, show exactly why his name carries so much weight around the league.
The list starts in Utah with the 2022 deal that sent Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland. The Jazz received Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton and Ochai Agbaji, along with unprotected first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029 and pick swaps in 2026 and 2028.
Cleveland got Mitchell. Ainge’s job there was to think beyond the moment, and the return has already paid off in pieces that matter.
Markkanen is described as an All-Star talent with room to grow in a bigger role, while Sexton helped cover some of Mitchell’s scoring during his three seasons in Utah. The future picks still hang over the deal, but Markkanen alone makes it a strong one.
Ainge’s 2017 draft-night move in Boston comes in at No. 4, and it’s easy to see why. The Celtics traded down from No. 1 to No. 3 and still landed Jayson Tatum, plus a 2018 first-round pick, while Philadelphia took Markelle Fultz.
Boston clearly wasn’t sold on Fultz, even though he was widely expected to go first. Tatum has since delivered an NBA Championship, Finals MVP and four first-team All-NBA selections across nine seasons in Boston.
Fultz never lived up to that billing and now plays in the G-League.
At No. 3 is the 2022 trade that brought Rudy Gobert to Minnesota and sent a massive package back to Utah. The Jazz received Walker Kessler, Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt and Leandro Bolmaro, plus unprotected first-round picks in 2023, 2025 and 2027, a 2026 first-round pick swap and a 2029 top-five protected first-round pick.
Minnesota got Gobert. The sheer volume of draft capital is what makes this one stand out, but the Jazz have kept squeezing value out of it.
They used the assets to get Keyontae George at No. 16 in 2023, traded Kessler to the Lakers for two more picks and two swaps, and turned Beasley and Vanderbilt into more draft capital.
The No. 2 spot belongs to the 2007 Kevin Garnett trade, the move that helped deliver a championship in Boston. Minnesota sent Garnett to the Celtics and received Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, a 2009 first-round pick and Minnesota’s own 2009 first-round pick back.
Boston got an MVP-calibre big to pair with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, and the payoff came fast. The Celtics won their first title since the 1980s the next season.
Minnesota, meanwhile, drifted into irrelevance for years, and the 2009 pick they got back turned into Jonny Flynn, one spot ahead of Stephen Curry.
The top spot goes to the 2013 deal with Brooklyn, the one that helped build the next great Celtics core. The Nets sent Boston Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, Kris Joseph, Keith Bogans, a 2014 first-round pick that became James Young, a 2016 first-round pick that became Jaylen Brown, a 2017 first-round pick swap that became Jayson Tatum and a 2018 first-round pick that became Collin Sexton.
The players involved at the time were not the headline, though. The picks were.
Brown and Tatum became the foundation of a team that returned Boston to the top of the sport, with the Celtics making regular conference finals runs before winning the Larry O’Brien in 2024. Brown is moving on this summer, but his run alongside Tatum remains a defining part of the Celtics’ rise.
Ainge has made plenty of sharp moves over the years, but this Brooklyn deal stands above the rest.
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