Paul Pierce, Dallas Maverick? Per owner Mark Cuban, it almost happened

A last-second ask for more draft assets reportedly ended up killing the trade.

It turns out Boston Celtics champion small forward Paul Pierce was very nearly a Dallas Maverick.

Speaking in a recent interview with Heavy.com’s Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson on the “Heavy Live with Scoop B” show, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban spilled the team on how the former Celtic almost ended up being deal to Dallas in 2013. The deal was evidently axed by the Atlanta Hawks according to the Mavericks owner, which would have radically altered the future of the Celtics. Had the deal gone through, no blockbuster with the Brooklyn Nets — and no Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-k3-x-8bJU&feature=emb_logo

“We thought we had it done but Atlanta killed it,” explained Cuban, who explained that the Hawks demanded an additional first-round pick at the 11th hour.

“We had a three way deal going on with the Mavs, Celtics and Atlanta and when Atlanta saw that the other team — because you really don’t tell the other team that you might say that you’re moving him on but, when we got to the trade call and they realized what was going on, they killed it.”

Who were the players traded in the deal in question?

Hawk Josh Smith would have been dealt to the Celtics, Pierce to the Mavs and Jae Crowder, Brandan Wright, and Dahntay Jones off to Atlanta.

While we don’t know the draft compensation Boston would have gotten back in this interview, it seems improbable that it would have beaten the haul from Brooklyn later that summer.

And more than a few of us likely also breathed a sigh of relief at having dodged the bullet of Smith as a Celtic, who was already beginning to show signs of falling off in 2013-14.

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