In the Celtics’ long history of winning lopsided trades, there are different tiers of thievery.
The ultimate heist — and this is beyond debate — was Red Auerbach sending Cliff Hagan and Ed McCaulay to the St. Louis Hawks for the No. 2 pick in the 1956 NBA Draft. The Rochester Royals owned the first pick, but Auerbach (as a story Tom Heinsohn liked to tell goes) convinced Celtics owner Walter Brown to send some lucrative Ice Capades show dates to the Rochester owner in exchange for passing on the player the Celtics desired.
Rochester agreed, taking Sihugo Green from Duquesne with the first pick, and so the Celtics got their man: University of San Francisco center Bill Russell, who became the fulcrum of 11 championship teams as the greatest winner in the history of team sports.