2007 Big Three Trade Deadline

Lore & Background

After another period of rebuilding, the Celtics assembled a new 'Big Three' around team captain Paul Pierce by acquiring Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in the 2007 off-season. Under the leadership of head coach Doc Rivers, the team defeated the Lakers to win their 17th championship in 2008, while also losing to the Lakers in the 2010 Finals. Allen, Garnett, and Pierce were no longer with the team by the start of the 2013–14 season, with Garnett and Pierce being traded to the Brooklyn Nets for four total future first round picks.

In Their Own Story

The air inside the TD Garden press conference room was thick with tension as Danny Ainge stood before a sea of flashing cameras. He didn't need many words; the names he spoke—Garnett and Allen—were enough to send shockwaves through the league. In the locker room, Paul Pierce looked at his new teammates for the first time, not as strangers, but as brothers-in-arms ready to reclaim Boston's glory. The silence of the arena before the next game was different now; it hummed with a renewed, electric hope that hadn't been felt in decades.

Reader's Guide

The Celtics' rise to dominance began in the late 1950s, after the team, led by coach Red Auerbach, acquired Bill Russell in 1956, later becoming the cornerstone of the Celtics dynasty. Led by Russell, Bob Cousy, and Tom Heinsohn, the Celtics won their first NBA championship in 1957. Russell, along with a talented supporting cast of future Hall of Famers including Heinsohn, Don Nelson, K. C. Jones, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, Satch Sanders, and Bill Sharman, would usher the Celtics into the greatest period in franchise history, winning eight consecutive NBA championships from 1959 to 1966. After Russell became the team's player-coach, as well as the first African American head coach in any United States sport, they won back-to-back titles in 1968 and 1969. The Celtics entered a period of rebuilding after Russell retired in 1969.

Did You Know?

• The Celtics have a notable rivalry with the Los Angeles Lakers, who are second in NBA history with 17 championships.
• 41 members of Basketball Hall of Fame have played for the Celtics at least once in their careers.
• Four Celtics players (Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Dave Cowens and Larry Bird) have won the NBA Most Valuable Player award; overall, Celtics players have won an NBA-record 10 MVP awards.
• In May 2025, the team was sold to private equity investor William Chisholm for $6.1 billion, making it the highest ever valued transaction for a sports franchise in North America.