After weeks and weeks of speculating, the Boston Celtics didn't trade anyone by the end of Thursday’s deadline.

Apparently president of basketball operations Danny Ainge felt as though his team is solid enough to win the Eastern Conference and contend for a title after signing the recently-bought-out Greg Monroe.

Marcus Smart had seemingly been on the trade block for the Celtics and the team was reportedly interested in Memphis Grizzlies guard Tyreke Evans, but the trigger wasn’t pulled on any deal.

Since the Cleveland Cavaliers nearly re-vamped their entire roster, it was a bold move for Boston to keep their roster in tact.

Part of the reason for that could have been the possibility of Gordon Hayward’s return later in the season. Although it seems insane to think that he could heroically get back on the court so soon after suffering his horrific injury on the opening night of the season, he has been progressing nicely and hasn’t officially been ruled out for the whole year.

The thought of getting Hayward back is already making All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving very excited.

"In a perfect world, man, Gordon would be playing right now," Irving said, per Chris Forsberg of ESPN. "I think about the lineups all the time. I know I play the what-ifs and it's not necessarily positive. But I play the what-ifs because I know how talented Gordon is and what he would bring to the table, and how much pressure he would relieve of me and also other guys on this team.”

In many ways, getting Hayward back (either this season or next) will feel like a huge free agent signing, since the team was only able to enjoy his presence for a few minutes.

"So I think that it's kind of like having an ace in the back pocket that you can't necessarily use right now with Gordon being out. But we want him to get as healthy as possible. And that's where we stand with that. Where I stand with that, too,” Irving noted. "I'd be even more comfortable if this was our complete healthy roster," said Irving. "I think that would be probably a lot better feeling if we had our full complete roster.”

What makes Irving most excited is that Hayward’s presence will allow the team to experiment with bigger lineups. Playing him at the three or four will open up a lot of options for coach Brad Stevens.

"I just think about just big lineups, man," Irving explained. "It's probably jumping the gun in terms of big lineups with me at the point guard, but me, [Hayward], [Jayson Tatum], [Jaylen Brown] and Al [Horford]. Or it could be me, Terry [Rozier], Gordon, JT, [Marcus Morris]. You just have so many options to play with and you could fill in as many other players as you want. … It’s just when you have someone that's able to come off the ball, dribble, create opportunities for everybody else, and also defensive-minded, I mean, it makes the game that much easier.”

The Celtics are 40-16 and are in first place in the Eastern Conference. Even if they don’t end up getting to the Finals this season, their future is incredibly bright and they will presumably have the potential to create a Golden State Warriors-type run if everyone maintains their health.