Celtics' trade for Evan Fournier ends Ainge's historic drought

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Hey, the Boston Celtics did something!

The Celtics acquired veteran guard Evan Fournier in a trade with the Orlando Magic ahead of Thursday's NBA trade deadline, according to reports (and Fournier's Twitter).

It's not a blockbuster move, and the Celtics missed out on reported top target Aaron Gordon. But Fournier is averaging a career-high 19.7 points per game this season and at least should give the struggling C's a scoring boost.

Forsberg: Was Evan Fournier trade the right move for Celtics?

More notably, the Fournier trade signals the return of "Trade Deadline Danny."

This was Danny Ainge's first in-season player acquisition via trade since his 2015 heist of Isaiah Thomas, who blossomed into a star in Boston after a multi-player deal with the Phoenix Suns.

Ainge's only in-season trade during the last six years? A 2019 contract dump of Jabari Bird to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for cash considerations. Only the San Antonio Spurs have gone longer between in-season moves, per ESPN.

(The C's have made plenty of offseason trades in this span, most notably a 2018 deal to acquire Kyrie Irving that sent Isaiah Thomas to Boston.)

Recapping Danny Ainge's notable in-season trades with Celtics

The Celtics seemingly always are in trade discussions leading up to the deadline, and the running joke is that Ainge comes "close" to making deals every year before standing pat.

But Ainge may have felt something had to be done to improve a Celtics squad that's floundering at 21-23 and has lost five of its last six games. Whether Fournier can act as the spark plug for Boston remains to be seen, but at least the C's took action.

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