The Boston celtics enter a bridge year of sorts with superstar Jayson Tatum set to spend most, if not all, of the season recovering from a torn Achilles. The impact of that has already been seen in the form of the fire sale from the franchise this week. Both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis have been traded in order shed salary and alleviate Boston's cap sheet. Even despite those moves rumors continue to swirl about possible big changes for the Celtics, especially in regard to Jaylen Brown and Derrick White.
Brown and White are the two best players left on the roster other than Tatum and trading their contracts would grant the Celtics significant financial flexibility. There have been multiple reports surrounding both players suggesting other teams are very interested in the two. On Wednesday, entering the NBA draft, two top ESPN NBA insiders weighed in on whether Boston really would trade its remaining stars.
In the morning, Brian Windhorst revealed on Get Up there were multiple teams selecting in the top-10 on Wednesday night have been making offers for Brown and White. However, he isn't bullish on either getting moved.
"The reason that today is probably the day the decision (to trade Brown or White) gets made is, there are teams in the top-10 who are making offers. Top 10 of the draft tonight. And you potentially would be able to get replacement players and a draft pick. I don't know if Brad Stevens and his staff is in love with one of these top guys. Maybe they are. But that's what is on the table.
"I agree with Stephen A. I say at midnight, Jaylen Brown is still a Celtic and Derrick White is still a Celtic and they run it back and they get ready to go in '26-27. I don't know for sure that's going to happen."
Several teams in the top 10 of the draft have been making trade offers for Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, per @WindhorstESPN
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In the afternoon, Shams Charania spoke on his own intel and said his "sense" is that both will be staying put— but emphasized the fact that the Celtics' financial situation demands they be open to anything.
"Now, of course, all eyes are going to be on Jaylen Brown and Derrick White," Charania said. "My sense this morning, on the morning of the NBA draft, unless a team blows the Celtics out of the water they'd prefer to keep both Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. But again, they are still a first apron team in the tax. They are still a luxury tax-paying team. Their phone lines are open. They're ringing. They're open to the conversations... they've got a very high price threshold on Jaylen Brown and Derrick White from my understanding from talking to people around the league. If they are going to move either of them it's going to be a massive haul that they'll get."
Both reports line up logically. Brown and White are both championship-caliber players; Brown won Finals MVP last year. Tatum's injury is severe but he should be back in action by the start of the 2026-27 season at the latest. The Celtics should not be inspired to blow up the entire roster, but have to be open to anything because the vision of what the roster should look like going forward is not yet complete.
A fascinating situation to watch with the NBA draft set to kick off at 8 p.m. ET.
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