Wyc Grousbeck explains how Brad Stevens ended up replacing Danny Ainge in the Celtics’ front office

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/01/02/sports/wyc-grousbeck-explains-how-brad-stevens-ended-up-replacing-danny-ainge-celtics-front-office/

Brad Stevens took over as president of basketball operations after Danny Ainge left in 2021.Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff

Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck offered some insight into how Brad Stevens became the Celtics’ president of basketball operations in 2021 during an interview on WEEI’s Greg Hill Show on Tuesday.

Grousbeck said he was disappointed when Stevens said he would step down as head coach of the Celtics in 2021. Grousbeck used the word “bummed” to describe his feelings about it.

“I wasn’t expecting him to come in and say that he needed to step down. That’s really the way it was,” Grousbeck said. “Others thought that I had something to do with it, but really I just received the news that he said he was leaving and it was not welcome news to me.”

The Celtics were also in need of a general manager at the time, with Danny Ainge set to step away from his role as president of basketball operations.

Stevens was tabbed as Ainge’s replacement. Ainge has since returned to the NBA and is now with the Utah Jazz.

“Thinking through what to do next,” Grousbeck said, “I was talking to Brad about how we would hire a general manager who would sort of be in between the two of us and the three of us would really need to be partners and look at things together, which is the way it works over at the Celtics, with guys making recommendations and then I’m ultimately responsible for for making the final approval decision.”

“We needed somebody in between me and Brad,” Grousbeck added. “Brad was the coach. And then, I looked at him out of nowhere and said, ‘Brad you’ve got a great basketball mind, you’ve been in the drafts the last seven years or so with Danny. You’ve built teams at Butler, you know personnel. You know everybody in the league. Do you want to think about being the GM?’”

After thinking about it overnight, Stevens accepted the front-office position, Grousbeck said.

“It was really an idea I had, just based on Brad’s characteristics and qualities and my comfort working with him as a partner,” Grousbeck said. “I didn’t know he would turn out to be a guy who took us to the Finals right away as a GM. He made some great moves, and they built on moves that Danny had made in the past. I’m thrilled that Brad is president of basketball, and I really love the job he’s done.”

Khari Thompson can be reached at khari.thompson@globe.com.