The Boston Celtics have been around forever. As one of the original teams in the NBA, they have had more opportunities than anyone to make trades. And they’ve done just that. In fact, their current roster has been constructed largely through trades, and it helped them win an NBA Championship.
Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets built their roster largely through the draft (though Aaron Gordon was acquired via trade). But what about their history with the Celtics? The two teams have had a relatively significant trade history with one another, having completed seven deals throughout the years, with the last coming in 2022.
Here are the top three trades the Celtics have made with the Nuggets throughout the years, based on how well the deal turned out for Boston.
3. Celtics trade Ron Mercer to Nuggets for Eric Williams
The third-best deal the Celtics have made with the Nuggets happened in 1999 when they landed Eric Williams in a six-player trade that also included a first-round pick. They send Ron Mercer, Popeye Jones, and Dwayne Schintzius to Denver for Danny Fortson, Eric Washington, Eric Williams, and a 2001 first-round pick. Boston picked Kendrick Brown with the first.
Denver didn’t get much out of the deal. Mercer and Jones only played a combined 77 games for the Nuggets, and Schintzius never appeared in a contest for them.
On the flip side, Williams became a staple of the Celtics’ rotation for the next four-and-a-half years. Ironically, he was drafted by the Celtics in 1995 but traded to Denver in 1997. While with the Nuggets, Williams tore his ACL in his first year and only played 38 games his second year before getting traded back to Boston.
By the pure number of games played, the Celtics won this deal by a landslide.
2. Celtics trade Shammond Williams to Nuggets for Mark Blount
In 2003, the Celtics traded Shammond Williams and a 2003 second-round pick to the Nuggets in exchange for Mark Blount and Mark Bryant. Denver eventually picked Sani Bečirovič with the second-rounder.
Williams only played 27 games for the Nuggets, and Bečirovič never played there. Meanwhile, the Celtics got a quality rotation piece.
Funnily enough, this is yet another case of the Nuggets trading Boston back a player who they already employed. Blount played for Boston for two years before signing with the Nuggets in free agency of 2002. Just 54 games into his time with Denver, he was traded back to the Celtics.
On his second go-around in Boston, Blount played 230 games for the Celtics and was a relatively consistent starter.
1. Celtics trade second-round pick to Nuggets for Leon Powe
This is by far the best trade the Celtics have ever made with the Nuggets, and it’s also the simplest. In the summer of 2006, the Celtics traded a 2007 second-round pick to the Nuggets in exchange for the draft right to Leon Powe, who was selected with the 49th pick in the 2006 NBA Draft.
Denver traded the second-round pick in a subsequent deal, and eventually, the Chicago Bulls used it to pick Aaron Gray.
But for the Celtics, getting Powe was huge. He eventually helped them win an NBA Championship in 2008, and that’s well worth a second-round pick.