NBA Insider Reveals Celtics Had Jaylen Brown Discussions With Timberwolves Before LaMelo Ball Trade image
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
In under two months, the Celtics' future will be moving on without Jaylen Brown as the 2026-27 season gets underway. Following July's stunning trade, Brown's career will continue with Boston's longtime rival, Philadelphia.
On Monday, however, Celtics fans found out the latest tidbit on how Brown trade talks unfolded. After the Celtics missed out on the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes — a deal that was expected to include Brown — they wound up shopping their star wing around across the NBA, making it clear they were ready to move on.
One of the teams that expressed interest in Brown was the Minnesota Timberwolves, The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski said on Monday.
According to Krawczynski, the Timberwolves had "real discussions" with the Celtics about acquiring Brown prior to Minnesota's blockbuster for LaMelo Ball.
"They had a lot of internal discussions about it as well," Krawczynski said on the "Celtics Daily" podcast on Monday. "The Celtics wanted Rudy [Gobert] and Naz [Reid], and it was going to be just too high of a price to pay.”
"If the Wolves didn't do the LaMelo deal, and maybe that price tag dropped as the summer went along, could something else have come together on that front? It's possible, I guess, but I do think the Wolves are happier with the LaMelo fit, a little more than they would’ve been with the Jaylen fit.”
Based on Krawczynski's reporting, in the hypothetical deal, the Celtics would have been swapping Brown for Reid, the former Sixth Man of the Year, and Gobert, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year. Instead, Boston acquired Paul George for Brown.
Had that trade with Minnesota gone through, it would have represented a major shift in philosophy for the Brad Stevens-Joe Mazulla Celtics, who have valued positional versatility and plenty of five-out lineups that value shooting above all. Reid would have been a strong offensive fit next to Jayson Tatum, but Gobert's inability to shoot would have required a re-design of the offense.
Defensively, however, even as Gobert ages, he would have been a terrific option for the Celtics to deploy against a growing number of star big men in the East, including Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo, Karl-Anthony Towns, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Evan Mobley and more.
Regardless, it's not how the offseason played out, with the Timberwolves getting Ball and the Celtics getting George.
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