Boston Celtics
“They knew there’d be potentially other trades that they would make.”
Jaylen Brown has been at the center of several trade rumors this summer. Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe
The Celtics might have come up short in the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes earlier this week.
But Jaylen Brown is reportedly still on the trade block as Brad Stevens weighs moving on from one of Boston’s franchise stalwarts.
“The Boston Celtics are actively engaged in trade talks surrounding Jaylen Brown with multiple interested teams,” ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania said on ESPN’s broadcast during Round 2 of the NBA Draft on Wednesday. “And I’m told there is a sense of purpose from teams around the league that they feel from the Celtics in these conversations.”
Fellow ESPN insider Brian Windhorst was even more declarative when it comes to Brown’s future in Boston.
“Brad Stevens said a lot of very nice and respectful things, but he never said he wasn’t trading [Brown]. … The Celtics got into the bidding for Giannis, but not into a bidding war, which means they knew there was a possibility that they would not be able to execute that trade,” Windhorst said Wednesday. “Which means that they knew there’d be potentially other trades that they would make.
“And, my speculation is, they do have another list with other teams that they’ll be talking to. And, I would believe there’s a very good chance Jaylen Brown is going to be elsewhere at the start of next season.”
Brown was once again dangled out on the trade market this offseason, with Charania reporting earlier this week that Boston offered up Brown and two first-round picks to the Bucks in order to try and pry Antetokounmpo out of Milwaukee.
The Bucks ultimately traded Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat, putting Boston a rough spot when it comes to both upgrading its roster — and potentially mending fences with one of their stars and 2024 NBA Finals MVP in Brown.
But based on several reports from Charania and other NBA insiders, the Celtics are still willing to deal away Brown as Boston looks to rework its roster around Jayson Tatum.
“That does not mean, though, that a deal is guaranteed, because Jaylen Brown does have three years left on his contract,” Charania added on Wednesday night. “He’s got a supermax deal that he’s on. From my understanding, the urgency from either side could change as the weeks go on. … His status is very much up in the air in Boston.”
Antetokounmpo held the highest upside of any potential trade target for the Celtics, given his standing as a two-time MVP.
But Boston has been linked to other potential big men, including New Orleans’ Trey Murphy III and Cleveland’s Evan Mobley.
Speaking on Tuesday, Stevens was noncommittal when asked about Brown’s future with the Celtics.
“Jaylen Brown is a big part of us,” Stevens said after Round 1 of the draft. “I’m never going to predict the future, but every indication, everything that I think about over the past few years has been building around those guys, right? So obviously, you never know. But at the same time, the one thing I want to make very clear is how valued he’s always been.
“He’s been amazing. He’s been an amazing teammate, a great person to be around. And whether that run ends 10 years from now when he retires, or before, there’s a lot to celebrate. We have a great relationship, an open relationship where we talk about everything. But I don’t want to predict the future. I look at it as, this is our team.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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