Boston Celtics: Robert Williams and Jaylen Brown for Kevin Durant a non-starter

A Boston Celtics trade package for Kevin Durant, headlined by Jaylen Brown, will not include Robert Williams in any form whatsoever, as Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston relayed in a piece titled ‘Seven C’s thoughts after page quickly turned from NBA Finals’. As Forsberg put it, the notion of including Robert Williams in any package already including Brown is ‘simply a nonstarter’.

“Yes, even for Durant”, he added.

With Kyrie Irving’s potential departure from the Brooklyn Nets causing Kevin Durant to mull his own future with the franchise–one that he signed a four-year, $194 million contract for last summer–the Cs are a team that has a ‘real connection there‘.

Brian Scalabrine used that verbiage when describing the team’s potential to bring Durant aboard in a trade this offseason. Affection for Marcus Smart and Ime Udoka, and respect for Jayson Tatum, are the justification for why Boston would explore adding KD to the mix in Boston by the ‘White Mamba’.

What is the ceiling for a Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum co-led Boston Celtics in 2022-23?

Let’s just say for all intents and purpose that the Boston Celtics were able to land Kevin Durant with a package headlined by Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart (to replace Kyrie Irving at PG), and several future first-round picks. This seemed out of the question not long ago, even getting the ‘laughable‘ label from the Houdini (apologies, mocktrades) but now it seems like one of the best possible packages the Nets could take to possibly improve and get future draft capital in one fell swoop.

In that scenario, the Celtics would have the necessary 1-2 punch it takes to win a title in this day and age (the 2020 Lakers say hello) in an NBA that has a full-strength Golden State Warriors back at the top of the ‘association’, a Los Angeles Lakers squad potentially adding Irving to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and a Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Milwaukee Bucks returning Khris Middleton after a championship season in 2020-21.

Tatum had the kind of Finals series that makes the idea of a 1A star with a similar offensive game capable of rubbing off on him in all of the best ways an appetizing one. Brown himself arguably deserves a chance to be a No. 1 option somewhere, and Brooklyn could get their No. 3 2016 first-round pick back after dealing it away in the 2013 Billy King debacle that netted the Nets Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

The best part about this scenario is that the rim would be adequately protected with Robert Williams still in tow and Durant now adding a shot-blocking presence in the frontcourt. That trio, along with Al Horford, makes the Cs a nightmarish defense to face.