Celtics’ Ainge says price for James Harden was “too high for us”
Reports surfaced alleging that Houston asked for Brown, Smart and picks in exchange for Harden.
During an interview on Thursday following the completion of the James Harden trade, Danny Ainge revealed the Boston Celtics were involved in the trade talks but that the price wasn’t to their liking.
“Yeah, we had conversations regarding James, not recently but yeah, we did have conversations,” Ainge said. “We had numerous talks, but the price really wasn’t changing. The price was really high for us, and it was something we really didn’t want to do … I think unanimously, we decided it wasn’t time for us and it wasn’t the price.”
According to Brian Robb of the Boston Sports Journal, the Rockets were asking for Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and draft compensation.