If Pelicans really got three Lakers picks and three pick swaps, plus Ingram and Ball, that is a pretty good haul for AD. Clearly the next year---and in all probability the next few years---those picks won't be all that valuable. But even LeBron ages, and AD may or may not be able to carry the team alone. There's also no real path to add talent past the LeBron window now, which means the out-years of those picks are pretty interesting.
I suspect it came down to Kyrie for Ainge---if he could have Kyrie, AD, and whatever else he'd do it (at least, I hope he would). But without Kyrie, there just isn't a path to a title-level team and a way to keep AD with confidence, and so the plan now becomes to semi-reset. Tatum, Brown, Smart, Time Lord, 3 firsts this year, Rozier (guessing he's back, whether I'm psyched about that or not), the Memphis pick, hope Al is back and Heyward returns more to form. We'll see.