Boston Celtics
“[Brad Stevens] obviously told him that there’s a good chance that they’re going to trade him.”
Jaylen Brown during Game 5 of the first-round playoff series against the 76ers. AP Photo/Charles Krupa
During their pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Celtics simultaneously failed to close the deal and sparked numerous reports about their willingness to trade Jaylen Brown.
After Antetokounnmpo was traded to Miami, several NBA insiders raised the possibility of the Celtics dealing Brown elsewhere in a separate transaction.
On Thursday morning, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said during an appearance on ESPN”s “Unsportsmanlike” that he expects the Celtics to trade Brown even though the possibility of landing Antetokounmpo has passed by.
“He’s going to get traded,” Windhorst said. “Obviously they offered him [for Antetokounmpo]. Brad Stevens came out and said many, many wonderful things about him and was respectful and all that stuff. He never said that he wasn’t trading him, which he obviously could have done.”
“He met with Jaylen before this happened, and he didn’t meet with him to say, ‘Hey, are you summering in Greece?’ ‘Are you going to try the Mediterranean?’ He obviously told him that there’s a good chance that they’re going to trade him.”
Speaking to reporters at the Auerbach Center Tuesday night after the first round of the NBA Draft, Stevens struck a noncommittal tone when asked whether Brown would still be on the team at the beginning of this upcoming season.
“Whether [Brown’s run in Boston] ends 10 years from now when he retires or before, there’s a lot to celebrate,” Stevens said. “We have a great relationship and an open relationship where we talk about everything. But I don’t want to predict the future.”
The Celtics remain active in trade talks for Brown, according to ESPN. Windhorst had previously said that he expects a “bidding war” to form amongst teams interested in acquiring Brown.
For years, the Celtics built their team around Brown and Jayson Tatum. Yet, that hasn’t made Brown safe from being included in trade rumors. Four years ago, long before Antetokounmpo had become available, the Celtics reportedly offered Brown in a trade package aimed at landing Kevin Durant.
Brown finished sixth in the MVP voting this season and helped guide the team to 56 regular-season wins and home court advantage against Philadelphia in the first-round of the playoffs. With Tatum unable to play in Game 7, the Celtics dropped the decisive contest. It was the first time they had blown a 3-1 playoff series lead in the franchise’s 80-year history.
Despite this, Brown had maintained that this season was his favorite of his decade-long NBA career.
Brown was able to play a leading role while Tatum recovered from off-season Achilles’ surgery, and he showed that the Celtics were capable of securing the No. 2 seed in the East without Tatum available for most of the year.
The five-time All-Star is under contract with the Celtics through 2029, but the Celtics still seem intent on trading him, Windhorst said.
“Whether they can find a trade [is a different matter], because look: Jaylen Brown is 29-years-old, coming off of his best season and under contract for three years,” Windhorst said. “Those are things that you like. Those are things that you want. It’s not a guarantee that they are going to be able to find a deal that they like that would improve the team, but I think they are intending to trade him.”
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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