
On this day: Robert Parish, pick used for Kevin McHale traded for; Bird, Ainge drafted
On this day: Robert Parish, pick used for Kevin McHale traded for; Bird, Ainge drafted
On this day in Boston Celtics history, President of Basketball Operations Red Auerbach pulled off one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history in 1980. Auerbach dealt a pair of first-round picks used to select big man Joe Barry Carroll and center Rickey Brown to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for big man Robert Parish and the draft pick used to select Kevin McHale.
In one fell swoop, Boston's head honcho scooped up two-thirds of one of the greatest frontcourts ever assembled. Forward Larry Bird, who had already been drafted, completed the trio that win titles together in 1981, 1984, and 1986.
It is also the anniversary of the 1978 NBA draft, in which the Celtics took three players of note. They selected small forward Jeff Judkins out of Utah with the 30th pick of the draft. Judkins played two seasons for Boston, averaging 7.3 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game before being drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1980 NBA expansion draft.
The Celtics also took shooting guard Freeman Williams out of Portland State with the eighth overall pick of the draft. Williams was immediately dealt with Kevin Kunnert, Kermit Washington, and Sidney Wicks to the (then) San Diego (now, Los Angeles) Clippers for Tiny Archibald, Marvin Barnes, Billy Knight, and draft assets.
They also drafted a player you may have heard of -- forward Larry Bird. Bird was taken with the sixth pick of the draft despite still being enrolled in Indiana State University, exploiting a since-closed loophole in the Collective Bargaining Agreement to do it.
He finished his final season at Indiana State before joining Boston for his Hall-of-Fame career that included three titles, 12 All-Star nods, 10 All-NBA teams, three Most Valuable Player Awards, and many other honors.
The 1981 NBA draft also fell on this date, with the Celtics again taking three noteworthy players. The first was shooting guard Charles Bradley, a Wyoming standout, taken with the 23rd pick. Bradley played two seasons with Boston, averaging 3.3 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per contest before being waived in October 1983.
The Celtics took shooting guard Tracy Jackson out of Notre Dame with the 25th pick. Jackson played 11 games with Boston before having his contract sold to the Chicago Bulls. In those 11 games, he averaged 2.4 points, 1.1 boards, and 0.5 assists.
The Celtics drafted shooting guard Danny Ainge -- formerly of BYU -- with the 31st pick. The move was a gamble since Ainge had already signed with Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays. However, the move paid off big for Boston. Ainge won two titles with the team as a player which laid the groundwork for him to return later in life as an executive and win another in 2008.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Times
8 minutes ago
- New York Times
Betsy Jochum, 104, Dies; Last Original Member of Women's Baseball League
Betsy Jochum, the last of the 60 players from the inaugural season of what became known as the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — which decades later inspired Penny Marshall's 1992 film, 'A League of Their Own' — died on May 31 at her home in South Bend, Ind. She was 104. Her death was announced by Carol Sheldon, vice president of the league's players association. 'When I got picked to play in the league, it was amazing,' Jochum (pronounced JOCK-em) told The South Bend Tribune in 2012. 'I was actually going to get paid for playing a game. Girls didn't do that back then.' At $50 a week, she was earning more than her father, a carpenter. In 1943 she joined the South Bend Blue Sox, one of four teams in what was initially called the All-American Girls Softball League. Philip K. Wrigley, the chewing-gum mogul and owner of the Chicago Cubs, started the league to maintain fan interest in baseball during World War II, when many major leaguers were serving in the military. The other teams that first season were the Kenosha Comets and the Racine Belles, in Wisconsin, and the Rockford Peaches, in Illinois. In her rookie season, the 5-foot-7 Jochum played in the outfield, batted .273, led the league in hits, stole 66 bases and was chosen for the All-Star Game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the home of the Cubs. Players from South Bend and Rockford beat rivals from Kenosha and Racine, 16-0. The game, which drew 7,000 fans, raised money for the Red Cross and other wartime causes. Jochum fared even better in 1944. Her .296 batting average led the league, and she stole a remarkable 127 bases, including seven in one game. She earned the nicknames Sockum Jochum and Sultana of Swat. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.


USA Today
22 minutes ago
- USA Today
Steph Curry will return to Tahoe celebrity golf tournament at Edgewood in summer 2025
Steph Curry will return to Tahoe celebrity golf tournament at Edgewood in summer 2025 Show Caption Hide Caption Video: Steph Curry's hole-in-one at Tahoe celebrity golf tournament Steph Curry's ace on the 152-yard hole No. 7 was his second ever and first in a tournament. Reno Gazette Journal After taking 2024 off from the celebrity golf tournament, Steph Curry will be back at Edgewood Tahoe for the 2025 event. Curry, the 2023 American Century Championship winner, is back in the field to defend his 2023 title in the 36th annual tournament July 9-13 at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. The Golden State Warriors star had to miss the events in 2024 to play basketball for the gold-medal-winning Team USA at the Paris Olympics. In the 2023 American Century Championship at Edgewood, Curry drained an 18-foot putt on hole No. 18 to take a dramatic win over Mardy Fish. Fish won the ACC in 2024. When Curry won the ACC in 2023, he made a hole-in-one on the 152-yard 7th hole, followed by a celebratory sprint from tee to green, which was among the most prominent viral sports video highlights of 2023. It will once again be a Curry family affair with Dell and Seth Curry also joining the celebrity field of 90 sports and entertainment stars. The tournament will feature Hall of Famers from the NFL, NBA and MLB, active and retired players, and Hollywood actors, comedians and entertainers. The three-day, 54-hole event includes a $750,000 purse, with $150,000 going to the winner, plus a charity component for local and national nonprofits. The celebrity golf tournament includes fan favorites Charles Barkley, Tony Romo, Travis and Jason Kelce, Colin Jost, Miles Teller, Ray Romano, Nate Bargatze, Larry the Cable Guy, Brian Baumgartner and Jack Wagner and Jim McMahon. Those last two are the only players who have competed in every tournament. Current NFL stars include 2024 MVP Josh Allen; first-timer George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers; Aaron Rodgers; Baker Mayfield; Davante Adams; Kyle Juszczyk; Adam Thielen; Trevor Lawrence; Matt Ryan; and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. NFL Hall of Famers participating at Edgewood include Jerry Rice, Steve Young, John Elway, Emmitt Smith, Marcus Allen, Charles Woodson, Tim Brown, Brian Urlacher, DeMarcus Ware and Dwight Freeney. Retired MLB superstars include Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, Hall-of-Famer Joe Mauer, Kevin Millar, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley. More top players competing are Annika Sorenstam; Joe Pavelski, the former Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks center; MLB Hall of Famer John Smoltz; former Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe; and NBA Hall of Famer Ray Allen. The 2025 American Century Championship will utilize the Modified Stableford format whereby points are awarded by score per hole. The event will be televised by NBC Sports, GOLF Channel and Peacock over the course of the three days. Since its inception in 1990, the American Century Championship has donated more than $8 million to local and national non-profits including the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a 500-person, nonprofit basic biomedical research organization.


Forbes
24 minutes ago
- Forbes
NBA Team Sponsorship Revenue Hits $1.6 Billion In 2024-2025 Season
NBA franchises secured $1.62 billion in team sponsorship revenue for the 2024-25 season, an 8% uptick year-over-year. That's also a 91% increase over the past five years, according to a new report released by SponsorUnited, a sports and entertainment sponsorship intelligence and data firm. The three team sponsorship categories which grew the most year-over-year included technology ($22 million), followed by healthcare ($8.2 million) and auto ($8 million). The NBA report, which was authored by SponsorUnited's marketing, business, intelligence and analytics groups, incorporated data via its SaaS platform from September 2021 to April 2025. SponsorUnited found that jersey patch revenue contributed, in large part, to NBA teams' business success off the court in 2024-25. Patches first debuted during the 2017-18 campaign to bolster teams' sponsorship offerings to current and prospective partners. This season, there were 11 new jersey patch deals featuring six brands — such as Amica Insurance (Boston Celtics), Reviver (Sacramento Kings) and Brightside Windows (Portland Trail Blazers) — who were also first-time NBA partners. The new agreements reached over $80 million in total spending across the NBA, which will see its new media rights deals with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video begin in 2025-26. Meanwhile, almost 450 brands partnered with the NBA for the first time during this recent season. Sponsorship categories that saw the most growth in terms of new brand partners included construction (37%), alcohol (35%), technology (31%), hotel, restaurant and leisure (31%) and government (30%). The Golden State Warriors' jersey patch partner, Rakuten, and naming rights sponsor, JPMorgan Chase, were the two biggest-spending brands, according to the report. AB InBev, Toyota and Bibigo, a Korean food company featured on the Los Angeles Lakers jersey, rounded out the top five spenders. Toyota is a sponsor with more than half of the league's 30 teams. Among the major U.S. men's professional sports leagues, the NBA sits in third behind the NFL and MLB, whose teams secured nearly $2.5 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively, in overall team sponsorship revenue. From a player perspective, Philadelphia 76ers rookie guard Jared McCain had the most endorsement deals (30) of any NBA player, per SponsorUnited. New York Knicks forward Karl Anthony Towns (23), shooting guard Josh Hart (19) and point guard Jalen Brunson (18) were also among the top endorsed NBA athletes.