The Celtics are trying to woo Danny Ainge to head their basketball operation, but Ainge said last night the job has yet to be formally offered to him.

Sources said the two sides will speak when Ainge is in Boston to work Game 3 of the Celtics-Nets series for TNT, and the team will then make a more formal presentation. The matter will almost certainly be decided one way or the other by the time Ainge leaves for his Phoenix home on Saturday.

``Things could move very quickly here,'' said a league source.

Ainge has been talking with the Celtics informally for weeks, and inroads were made because the former Celt has known new co-owner Steve Pagliuca for some 16 years. Pagliuca, who has served with Ainge on the board of the Forever Young Foundation, a charity that benefits youth organizations, has had at least three conversations with Ainge regarding his interest in working for the club for which he played eight seasons in the '80s.