Boston Celtics
“This is going to be like that [Karl-Anthony Towns] trade,” Garnett said. “It’s like Minnesota kicking themselves over the KAT trade.”
Kevin Garnett was “shocked” to see Jayson Tatum ruled out for Game 7 vs. the Sixers. AP Photo/Matt Krohn
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Jayson Tatum says it’s ‘weird’ that Jaylen Brown is no longer a Celtic
Kevin Garnett is questioning Brad Stevens’s thought process behind the Jaylen Brown trade, the Hall-of-Fame forward said on a recent episode of “KG Certified.”
The Celtics traded Brown to the 76ers for Paul George and a pair of first-round picks.
Garnett, who came to the Celtics via trade in 2007, pointed to the franchise with which he began his career, the Minnesota Timberwolves, as an example of how teams that trade away star players can end up regretting it later.
“This is going to be like that [Karl-Anthony Towns] trade,” Garnett said. “It’s like Minnesota kicking themselves over the KAT trade. I think Boston is going to look back on this. It’s like when KD left Golden State and then he turned around like what the [expletive].”
“This is one of those moments where you don’t break a great thing up. This was a great thing.”
Minnesota sent Towns to New York in a three-team deal involving the Knicks and Hornets in 2024.
The Timberwolves received Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Kieta Bates-Diop, and a future first-round pick. Two of those players are no longer on the team. Towns just helped the Knicks win their first title since 1973.
Brown played ten seasons for the Celtics and said this past season was his favorite after the Celtics won 56 games with Jayson Tatum sidelined for most of the season. Boston blew a 3-1 lead to Philadelphia, ending their playoff run in the first round. Brown’s addition will make the 76ers better, Garnett said.
“They not only got better, but they have young stars. If they can put this together, Nick Nurse has a really good team. You’ve still got something with the big fella [Joel Embiid], he doesn’t have to be so 100 percent him.”
“Tyrese Maxey is a rising star. You put him with JB and [V.J.] Edgecombe? Man, listen. And then, it was in conference. That says something. That says ‘yeah, we want to see y’all four times a year.”
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said his goals for the Brown return were to get a player that could help the Celtics remain competitive while adding future assets to help build the team.
He also said that having two players take up 70 percent of the salary cap would have made it tough to win going forward under the new collective bargaining agreement. Like Brown, George makes north of $50 million per year, but he has one fewer year remaining on his contract than Brown does.
The Celtics will continue to build around Tatum. Garnett said he wouldn’t have been so quick to break up Brown and Tatum if he were running the Celtics.
“Those two have been tested through time and time,” Garnett said. “So, this is just relationship. It ain’t always going to be great, you know what I’m saying? But, it would have had to have been something detrimental for me to break that up. That was probably the most dynamic duo in the league to me.”
While he did not like the move, it’s it’s time for the Celtics to move on, he said.
“I wanted JB to retire as a Celtic,” Garnett said. “But, yeah, we’re in something else and I think we’re entering a new era real [expletive]. All this new movement is all new era [expletive] to me.”
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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