Nenad Krstic, an impending unrestricted free agent, is willing to give the Celtics another try.

“I want to come back here,” he said. “Obviously I want to see what my options are, but I definitely like the organization and I like the team. If you ask me, yes, but I don’t know if they want me.”

Rivers, who agreed to a five-year contract extension Friday, may be a tough read in that respect.

But Danny Ainge, architect of that controversial trade, wants to see this project work, too.

“We’re interested in bringing him back,” the Celtics general manager said. “He played great when he first got here, and then he hit a little slump. He wasn’t playing well for a while, and then he got hurt. He had the bruised knee. We were worried it was something worse. It seemed that anyone playing center for us got hurt."