On this day in 1978, one of the weirdest chapters of Boston Celtics history unfolded as the Celtics became the Buffalo Braves and the Braves the Celtics.
Confused? You should be — it is perhaps the only time in the history of major North American professional sports that franchise owners swapped ownership of their respective franchises in a move that has largely been forgotten by fans, buried by the sands of time.
Boston’s owner at the time — Irv Levin — wanted to move to the west coast, but there was no way the NBA would approve a move for the Celtics to go there with him.
Instead, one the suggestion of NBA lawyer and future commissioner David Stern, he pitched Buffalo’s owner, John Y. Brown, to swap franchises, and Brown agreed.
The move was approved by the league’s Board of Governors by a 21-1 vote (the lone dissenting team appears lost to history), and the two teams also traded most of their respective rosters to maintain continuity.
At the time, Levin considered — but ultimately decided against — demanding the inclusion of an interesting prospect out of Indiana.
“I absolutely could have had Larry Bird if I wanted. No question about it,” Levin said via the New York Time’s Peter May. “But I knew Red was very high on the kid and I felt if I took Bird to San Diego, Red would in some way make sure that he never signed with me. It was too risky. We were starting a new franchise. Of course, had I known then what I know now, I would have taken that risk.”
The Braves decamped from upstate New York that summer, and reinvented themselves as the San Diego Clippers.
Very, very strange — but true!
It is also the date former Boston big man Al Horford signed with the team in 2016. A product of the University of Florida, where the Dominican center won two national titles, Horford would be drafted third overall by the Atlanta Hawks, with whom he spent nine seasons.
The former Gator left Atlanta in free agency after the Hawks were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs two years in a row, signing a four-year, $113 million contract with Boston.
The Celtics would make the East Finals twice during Horford’s tenure with the team, and the Puerto Plata native would make an All-Star team and an All-Defensive Second Team while with Boston.
After a disappointing 2018-19 season with the team that saw a number of factors deflate a highly-anticipated campaign, Horford opted to test the free market, and was tendered an offer by the Philadelphia 76ers the Celtics did not match.
The former No. 3 pick averaged 13.5 points, 7 rebounds, 4.6 steals and 1.2 blocks per game while with the team.
