If Indy wanted Hayward so bad they could easily have matched the Charlotte offer and continued negotiating with Boston. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that Hayward's agent, a very good player agent, wouldn't have offered Indy a chance to match Charlotte's offer.
All the stuff coming out of Indy seems like a PR smokescreen to me. It takes three parties to do a sign and trade and Gordo wanted money that Indy looks like they didn't want to pay him. That's the story right there. Everything else is white noise.
Talks between Indiana and Boston had been broken. What was there to talk about for Hayward's agent?
As long as Boston wouldn't agree to the Indiana offer it was impossible for Hayward to sign a contract there.
All the reports say the same: Indiana offered Turner + McDermott + 1st rounder (probably protected). From the beginning it was reported that Turner was on the table and we even had reports that Boston was looking for suitors for Turner to involve a 3rd team. Then we even had a detailed report that Boston wanted Warren + Turner or Oladipo, and wasn't satisfied with the Indiana offer.
Then we had reports that talks between Boston and Indiana had stalled and that there wasn't any progress in these negotiations. And then Hayward signed with the Hornets. We even had an interview by the Indiana GM that they were unwilling to offer anything more than Turner + McDermott + 1st.
There really is no mystery here. I haven't seen any report that would suggest otherwise. Oladipo and Warren were off the table and Ainge wasn't high on Turner, or at least not enough to agree to a sign-and-trade of Hayward to the Pacers.
The only question is whether Hayward would have reconsidered signing with the Pacers if the Hornets would have been in time to come up with their bigger offer. I think Hayward would have preferred to play in Indiana, but that's something we don't really know.
All the other information is out there, in fact more than usual, probably because the Pacers got frustrated that Ainge wasn't willing to accept the offer they deemed very reasonable and it was hurting both franchises (Pacers not getting Hayward, Celtics seeing Hayward leave for nothing).
Again. White noise.
There are two negotiations occurring at the same time during sign and trades, between the free agent and various teams and between the free agent's team and any team that might want to sign and trade the player. The more important negotiations are those between the player and teams he is negotiating with.
Hayward's agent was negotiating with multiple teams and got offers from multiple teams. Indy had committed to 4 years $100 million. New York had made aggressive similar offers, as did Charlotte. Eventually Charlotte upped their offer.
As I said, Hayward's agent is a good agent. If you believe Hayward's agent didn't let Indy know the offer to match was 4 years $120 million, then you really don't get how player agents work.
Indy knew the price went up and backed off. They decided that money, plus what they would have to give up in a trade, was too much. So they went into PR damage control mode and pointed the finger at Danny.
But it was their decision not to match the Charlotte offer that ended things. They were every bit as unyielding in their negotiations with Boston as Ainge was in return. If they said they would match the Charlotte order, they could have continued negotiating the terms of the trade with Boston. There was no giant rush to get the deal done. Just look at how long after Hayward decided to sign in Charlotte before the Boston sign and trade with Charlotte was consummated. There was still time for Indy and Boston to work out a deal if Indy matched the money. But they didn't. The money was too much.
The Pacers didn't match the Charlotte money and were just as stringent and hard headed in their trade negotiations with Ainge, as Ainge was in return, but somehow Celtics fans believe it's all Danny's fault, because the team that went cheap and played hardball just as much as Ainge leaked some of the offers being bandied back and forth.
Sorry, I don't buy that. Hayward chose Charlotte because of the money, the money Indy didn't want to offer. Indy offers the money and eventually, Ainge and Pritchard would have come to terms on a deal. The contract talks between Hayward's representatives and the teams were the more important of the talks happening and Indy balked. End of story.