Ainge likes to aquire "tradable assets." This time he used some of his young assets (Banks, Mihm) and got back a different kind of asset. Expiring contracts. At best, Payton returns to form and leads a surprising team deep into the playoffs. At worst, Payton can be shopped a the deadline for a team desperate for cap relief. Couple his contract with Rick Fox and Yogi Stewart, and we could get a max-type player or several solid players for essentially nothing in return. Davis is still a tradable commodity (and if you listen to Simmons, he's available to all bidders) and if someone has a real desire to take on lots of salary (like Zeke), we can always throw Raef into the fray.
This is not over.