BOSTON Celtics coach Brad Stevens is leaving the sideline to replace Danny Ainge as the president of basketball operations.
Ainge, 62, announced his retirement after 18 seasons on Wednesday but will assist during the transition this offseason.
A search for a new head coach will begin immediately with Stevens responsible for finding his replacement.
“This is a bittersweet day to commemorate the departure, retirement of an all-time great: Danny Ainge,” Wyc Grousbeck, the Celtics co-owner, said Wednesday afternoon in a news conference. “Won championships as a player and won a championship as a head of basketball. [It’s] unprecedented in Celtics history. [He’s] one of the truly finest people I’ve ever met in my life.”
The Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs in five games by the Brooklyn Nets, who dominated Game 5 of the first-round series on Tuesday. They finished the regular season with a 36-36 record, struggling to find their momentum amid losses to key players because of injuries and extended COVID-19 absences.
During Ainge’s tenure, the Celtics made 15 playoff appearances, seven Eastern Conference finals and two NBA Finals and won the championship in 2008, the franchise’s 17th and first in 22 years. As a player with the Celtics, Ainge won NBA titles in 1984 and ‘86.
“It was my decision,” Ainge said Wednesday. “I don’t know if there was a moment in time, but like I said earlier, I trust my instincts, and my instincts told me a couple months ago that it was time for me to move on, and that’s what’s best for us, that’s what’s best for the Celtics.”
Ainge said the mild heart attack he had in 2019 and the difficulties of working amid the pandemic contributed to the decision.
“In the bubble and all the rules and scrutiny and protocols that we had to go through has not made the job as much fun,” he said.
Sports Illustrated reported Ainge could weigh other opportunities.
“I don’t know what my future holds,” Ainge said. “I don’t have any plans right now. … My goal is to get Brad up to speed on the draft. Like I said, our whole staff will be able to help and try to make this transition, and put the Celtics in as good a place as we can be. And I’ll think about the future somewhere in the future.”
Stevens turned down a reported seven-year, $70 million offer to return to his home state and coach the Indiana Hoosiers this spring. He is a legend in Indiana, where he led Butler to back-to-back NCAA championship games in 2010 and ‘11.
ESPN said Stevens reportedly was “worn down” by coaching and welcomed the chance to transition to a new role.
At the news conference, he said he is up to the task.
“I understand and am looking forward to this new challenge and great responsibility,” Stevens said. “We’re driven to compete for championships. … This morning is a hard day and I know that there’s a lot of work ahead. … I really have enjoyed coaching, but this is the new challenge and this is what we need to do to hopefully be even better.”
The Celtics lost in the Eastern Conference finals three times in Stevens’ eight-year tenure as coach, including in 2020.
With the Celtics, the 44-year-old Stevens has a 354-282 record, plus a 38-40 mark in the postseason.
Yahoo! Sports reported on Wednesday that early candidates for the head coaching job are Jason Kidd, currently a Los Angeles Lakers assistant who previously was head coach of the Nets and Milwaukee Bucks, and Lloyd Pierce, fired this season as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. — Reuters