We had a couple of things going for us. Not sure I ever took DA's son's election seriously as a factor, but the other thing is GM's sometimes extend a personal courtesy in a situation like this. Because we are losing Hayward for nothing and Boston will have to move Crowder at some point, sometimes a GM will extend a professional courtesy for a reasonable offer, even though he could probably do a little better elsewhere. Basically, a situation of I'll do you a little favor now, and I'll expect the same treatment at some point in the future.
However, I was always skeptical of Danny Ainge cutting us a break. He has DL over a barrel and apparently DL refused the Trump treatment. I'm guessing Danny wanted an unprotected or lightly protected pick and DL stuck his ground for lottery protected, which is understandable.
Anyway, Danny Ainge has just become my most hated GM and I will be wishing pure evil upon him, as well as his team. He will try and squeeze every little drop of value from Crowder, rather than cut us a break when we just lost a major asset. I'm guessing it's because he's so unbending that Chicago and Indiana refused to deal with him. This **** will come back to haunt him, as GM's talk to each other and will give him the same treatment when the day comes the shoe is on the other foot.