Additional trade details from Celtics deals

I don't know about you, but I'm always fascinated by the process and love hearing about the details of the deals.  So I love that Steve Bulpett and others were able to supply us with some.

First of all, several have reported that the Celtics created a new $7.7M trade exception via the Tayshaun Prince deal.  Apparently they used smaller TPEs to bring in Jerebko and Datome and thus were able to create a TPE for sending out Prince.  For details on all our TPE's check out Eric Pincus' page here.

Secondly, Bulpett is reporting that the Celtics may waive or buy out Gigi Datome.  So much for the stories about Ainge being a big fan of is.  Maybe the NBA was just too much of a leap for him from the Italian league.

Additionally, while this doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, apparently Ainge and his old protege McDonough were at a stalemate over the Isaiah Thomas package.  I'll let Steve explain where that went.

Deadline involves Danny Ainge after all | Boston Herald

Ainge wouldn’t get into details on the Thomas move, but both sides were shooting it down in the lead-up to the deadline, believing they had made their best offers and that the other club wouldn’t budge. Though there was no confirmation of the specific issue, it is believed to be over the inclusion of Thornton, who is on the last year of a contract that will pay him $8.575 million. According to one NBA source, "Phoenix moved."

Now, they probably moved because of developments on other fronts, including the acquisition of Brandon Knight from the Bucks.  So to say that Ryan "blinked" might be a stretch.  But it is fun to picture the mentor staring down the apprentice and getting what he wants.

Other details have been covered here already but it is worth noting that Thomas' deal is very cap friendly and decreasing as the years go out.  There's a little less wiggle room on the cap this summer so they might have to make a move to free up cash if they really wanted to make two max offers to free agents.  But the odds of 2 max deals happening are slim anyway and if you have to you can always stretch Gerald Wallace to free up more room (or find a way to trade him for nothing - perhaps giving the Sixers yet another pick).

And finally it is worth pointing out again that the 2016 1st round pick that the Celtics gave up for Thomas is a top 10 protected pick that originated from Cleveland.  Chances are pretty good that LeBron will still be there next year and that would mean that the pick will be in the 20's anyway.  Thomas seems like he'll be well worth that pick and then some.

Those are all the interesting details I could find.  Please feel free to share any others in the comments below.