Boston Celtics: All-time starting lineup of almost acquired stars

Shooting Guard – Paul George

In 2017, when the Boston Celtics were on a collision course with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team contemplated making a mid-season splash in the form of a deal for Paul George. The talks didn’t get too far, but the versatile swingman was very much in the cross-hairs of Danny Ainge and co.

One of the supposed hangups of the deal was the C’s unwillingness to give up the draft pick that ended up being Jayson Tatum:

"Per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, the Pacers and Celtics had a “preliminary” discussion about George, but the Pacers won’t seriously consider a deal “until/unless” Boston includes the first-round pick it can swap with the Brooklyn Nets."

It’s unknown what else could have gotten a deal done, but perhaps including Jae Crowder, Avery Bradley, Amir Johnson and several draft picks could have gotten the green light. The Pacers’ actual haul included two young players that blossomed into All-Stars in Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, which has set them up for the future.

Do either of those players have a higher ceiling than Jayson Tatum though? That isn’t clear and likely won’t be for a number of years. What is clear is that Ainge was able to build enough of a pile of assets to be in contention for a number of stars over the years. 2017 could have been a year that he pulled the trigger before growing attached to his core during the 2018 playoffs. More on that later.