After a month of wild discourse, all signs are pointing towards Giannis Antetokounmpo going somewhere other than Boston this summer, and yet, Jaylen Brown’s name continues to pop up in trade rumors. Rumors are just that, but when there’s this much smoke, there’s often fire, and right now, for whatever reason, there’s a lot of smoke around Brown’s name.
I can’t imagine the Celtics are actively shopping JB, but we’ve now heard of at least four teams showing interest, and you can’t scroll through social media for long without seeing another fake trade sending Brown out of Boston.
We know that the Rockets, Hawks, Trail Blazers, and Pelicans, at least, have expressed interest in trading for Jaylen, but there was some underlying level of assumption that the Celtics were canvassing the market to gauge his value to flip the return in a potential deal for the Greek Freak.
But the more info that comes out, the clearer it seems that the Celtics are out on Antetokounmpo. So what’s with all the JB noise? When the season ended, it felt like there was no way that Brad Stevens would split up the Jays unless it was for a Giannis-like player in return, but now, things look a bit different.
Celtics may seek mega-trade package for Brown
It’s looking more possible than ever that Brad and the Celtics may actually sell high on JB, coming off the best season of his career and a sixth-place MVP finish. He’s due an extension in the coming months, and if there was ever a time to cash in on value, it would be now.
With all of these teams expressing interest, there’s obviously an active market for Brown right now. The Celtics could theoretically receive multiple young players and useful role players like Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, Scoot Henderson, Toumani Camara, Shaedon Sharpe, Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu, Trey Murphy III, Dejounte Murray, plus a haul of draft picks.
Celtics must consider resetting the roster and the payroll for the future
That may sound like a weak return for a star of Brown’s caliber, but the logic on the Celtics’ side may be to turn his giant contract into multiple role players. A package from NOLA, like Murphy, Murray, and three unprotected first-round picks, would at least make the Celtics consider. The same could be said for a similar package from other teams.
The Celtics may take a small step back, as no player coming back would be as good as Brown, but the idea would be to build stronger depth at other positions, invest in younger, cheaper players, and stockpile assets to chase the next big move(s) to polish off another championship-level team around Jayson Tatum.
It’s a bold decision and a very risky one, but with the competitive nature of the current NBA and the strict CBA, the front office needs to consider every option in team-building. Trading JB for a return like this would be extremely hard to stomach, but it seems like the Celtics are at least kicking the tires.
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