How the 53-win Celtics wound up with the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft

If you’re just starting to pay attention to this year’s NBA draft, you’ll notice something odd. The Boston Celtics, owners of the best record in the Eastern Conference this season and conference finals participant, have the No. 1 pick. They had a 25 percent chance that some ping-pong balls in a drum bounced their way, and they did.

So how did this happen?

You can thank Brooklyn Nets, who did something four years ago that seemed at least defensible at the time, but has turned out to hurt them badly.

In June 2013, the Nets made a splash. They traded Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, Kris Joseph, Keith Bogans, and unprotected first-round picks in 2014, 2016, and 2018 to the Celtics. In return, they got a package centered around Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, two marketable veterans who’d helped Boston to a championship just a few years earlier. It was a ton to give up for them, though.

The Nets also gave Boston the right to swap first-round picks with them in 2017. If the Nets were to finish with a better pick than the Celtics this year, they’d have to trade slots. Four years ago, it was hard to predict exactly how that swap would look.

Not good, it turns out.

The Nets had the worst record in the league this season, 20-62. The Celtics were a delight, finishing with 53 wins, the top seed in East, and a date with the Cavaliers following a seven-game series victory over Washington.

The result of this is that the Nets’ ping-pong balls on Tuesday were really Boston’s. And those ping-pong balls delivered the Celtics another superstar despite already being a contender.

They were just a season into their existence as the rebranded Brooklyn Nets, playing at a new Barclays Center and looking for ways to be relevant. They’d won 49 games the year before, buoyed by young center Brook Lopez and aging guards Deron Williams and Joe Johnson. They had a good team. They did not have a real title contender.

Pierce and Garnett were to be 36 and 37 years old that first season in Brooklyn, well off their peaks. But that didn’t mean they were done being useful NBA players. Both were still well above average at their positions, and they’d helped Boston to some more good years after their 2008 run to the title. They came with high dollar figures (more than $27 million in combined salary in their first year in Brooklyn), but they could play.

The Nets gave up a lot, but what they were doing was defensible.

They declined from 49 to 44 wins the first year they had them, though they at least reached the second round.

Garnett played in just 54 games and posted career-worst numbers pretty much across the board. He never played that many games again and was done being a serious offensive contributor. The Nets were a better defensive team with Garnett on the court, but he was such a drain on their offense that their overall efficiency ticked up without him playing.

Pierce was reasonably good in 2013-14. The Nets were at least a lot better with him on the floor than on the bench, and his 53 percent effective shooting mark was one of the better ones of his career. But Pierce was a free agent after his one season as a Net, and the organization didn’t match an offer the Wizards sent him.

So Pierce left. The Nets have already paid for their mistake. They’re about to pay even more.

This season was a nadir, but the Nets never became a contender and have been sub-.500 for three seasons. They didn’t have a pick in the 2014 draft and haven’t been able to pick before No. 22 overall at any time in the last six drafts. Meanwhile, Boston selected James Young with the No. 17 pick in 2014 and Jaylen Brown with the No. 3 overall selection in 2016.

Brooklyn doesn’t have anyone on their roster who even resembles a young cornerstone player. They’d have a chance to draft one this year, but they lost that shot because of a trade that never helped them compete. It’s the kind of mistake that will sting for years.

Meanwhile, the Celtics now sit in the most advantageous situation one can imagine. They have a team that’s one series away from the NBA Finals, and they have the capacity to add a superstar with the No. 1 pick if they so choose. They can also use those draft assets to swing a trade for a star like Jimmy Butler or Paul George, though they’ve failed to do so thus far. Plus, the Celtics could again get the Nets’ high lottery pick next year!

When Brooklyn acquired Garnett and Pierce, team owner Mikhail Prokhorov said the “basketball gods [had] smiled on the Nets.”

It didn’t pan out that way, and now the Celtics have raided their chance to turn their franchise around.