If it is any consolation to Billy King, his 2013 trade with the Boston Celtics for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett does not yet rank as the worst Nets trade in the pockmarked history of the franchise. Nor is it the most lucrative heist the storied Celtics have ever pulled.
On both accounts, give it time. Three years, in fact, offer plenty for the Celtics to draft their way back to N.B.A. prominence, courtesy of King, the Nets’ general manager, and his Russian-financed court.
Before we discuss the particulars, it is interesting to note that the chronically lowly Nets long ago had a strange and complicated relationship with the Celtics, the league’s most title-rich organization (17).