Danny Ainge Steps Down as Pres. of Basketball Ops; Brad Stevens Joins Front Office

Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has stepped down after the team was eliminated from the 2021 NBA playoffs by the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night, the team announced.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski initially reported the news, adding current Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was expected to leave the sidelines and "assume a more prominent front office role with the team."

The team announced that Stevens will take over as president of basketball operations and that Ainge will assist in the transition.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated reported the Utah Jazz are a "possible landing spot" for Ainge, and that the franchise had been "seen as a potential next step."

Stevens, who joined the organization as head coach in July 2013, had become "worn down" by coaching since last year's NBA bubble amid the COVID-19 pandemic and "welcomed the chance to make the transition to the front office," per Wojnarowski.

The 44-year-old Indiana native posted a 354-282 regular-season record and a 38-40 mark in the playoffs across eight years as the Celtics coach. He has no front-office experience.

It was an underwhelming season for Boston, which posted a 36-36 record during the regular season and were forced to survive the play-in tournament with a victory over the Washington Wizards just to qualify for the postseason field.

The seventh-seeded Celtics were no match for the star-studded Nets in the first round, though. Brooklyn advanced in five games, with all four of its wins in the series coming by double digits.

Jaylen Brown missed the entire series after undergoing wrist surgery in May, and Kemba Walker (knee) and Robert Williams III (ankle) both missed the final two games. But it's hard to suggest the C's would have advanced, even at full strength.

In turn, the Celtics head into an offseason when some tough questions must be answered.

They have a limited number of potential free agents—Evan Fournier, Semi Ojeleye and Luke Kornet are unrestricted free agent, while Tacko Fall is a restricted free agent—so they must decide between keeping the core together and hoping better health leads to better results or whether they should make blockbuster moves to shake things up.

The departure of Ainge would amplify speculation the Celtics are thinking about a serious overhaul, especially since he downplayed rumors about taking on a lesser role just last month.

"I have thought that way before, but that's not going on right now," Ainge said May 20 on 98.5 The Sports Hub Radio (via Hayden Bird of the Boston Globe).

ESPN's Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps reported Tuesday after Boston's elimination that the team could be "stuck in the middle" with Brown and Jayson Tatum "understandably untouchable" and limited financial flexibility under the salary cap. That would leave Marcus Smart as the likely top trade asset.

"He happens to be one of Ainge's favorite all-time players and fills one of the most desired roles in the league: a vicious defender on the perimeter," Windhorst and Bontemps wrote. "Smart is also due for a contract extension. The notion of trading him while getting better at the same time is a major challenge."

Ainge, 62, started his playing career with the Celtics as a second-round pick in the 1981 draft. The two-time NBA champion was traded by Boston in 1989 and returned in an executive role in 2003. He was named NBA Executive of the Year in 2008 for his work building the team's title-winning roster.

The C's reached the NBA Finals again in 2010 before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers, but they haven't been back since despite four trips to the conference finals.

Now their first-round playoff exit has led to a significant restructuring of the front office, with Stevens being tasked with the key offseason decisons.