Jaylen Brown’s standing with the Boston Celtics has been a trending topic all offseason for a number of different reasons. The most notable is that Brown would be the primary piece in a deal for any of the stars linked to the Cs, but his own social media behavior–namely liking a tweet that read ‘Jaylen Brown is so disrespected by Celtics fans’–adds plenty of fuel to the fire that No. 7 could wear a different uniform sometime in the not-so-distant future.
WEEI contributor Jermaine Wiggins recently claimed on The Greg Hill Show that he saw Brown while in the Hamptons on Long Island and was personally given the idea from the player himself that Brown won’t re-sign with the franchise in the summer of 2024 when he is eligible to be an unrestricted free agent. Wiggins’ story, which has not been proven or disproven as of yet, set Celtics-centric social media channels ablaze.
Will he stay or will he go? Brown’s status as the C’s 1A star is one being monitored all over Boston as trade rumors persist throughout the offseason. It’s even drawn the attention of a peer that has been floated in trade scenarios for Brown before, Devin Booker.
In speaking with Celtics Wire’s Cameron Tabatabaie, Booker addressed the push by many analysts and fans to split up the Brown-Jayson Tatum duo — simply stated that it’s ‘the nature of the game’:
"“It’s just the nature of the game, the nature of social media, and the nature of self-hate. It’s on full display, but that’s the beauty of sport at the end of the day, and everything that comes with it. We’re not out there to prove anybody wrong, but that sort of stuff happens.”"
With Boston repeatedly getting close to the Larry O’Brien trophy but falling short in their pursuit to hang Banner 18 from the T.D. Garden catwalks, it makes sense that arrangements breaking up the close-but-no-cigar Celtics duo are frequently formulated. Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens ultimately will be the one to make the call on whether or not the tandem will survive these trade scenarios.
Speaking of Jaylen Brown trade scenarios, our all-Boston sister site Chowder & Champions came up with several that would give Jayson Tatum a new star running mate. Here are the names C&C site expert Tarringo Basile-vaughan listed…
Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell, and De’Aaron Fox headline the list of players C&C believes the Boston Celtics could trade Jaylen Brown for
Coming up with four different trades involving the 25-year-old Brown, Basile-vaughan threw out some of the more commonly-linked names. That group includes Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell, two of the few players that’d be an upgrade in the lineup.
De’Aaron Fox was also listed, with the justification being that his presence would facilitate Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon playing at their more natural position: shooting guard. Fox’s raw counting stats across the board are superior to Brown’s, but the Sacramento Kings floor general is a far less efficient shooter. While Hardwood Houdini wouldn’t compromise the team’s spacing by adding a poor shooter in a double-big lineup, there are worse returns possible in a Brown swap than the 24-year-old Fox.
One of those returns is the Memphis Grizzlies package of Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane. In a nutshell, adding a rising star in the frontcourt and a sharpshooting swiss-army knife in the backcourt around Jayson Tatum is prudent roster building. Zooming out to the bigger picture, though, making a deal that moves the team further away from a championship–mere weeks after coming within two games of winning one, mind you–would put Stevens on the hot-seat if the team took any noticeable step back.
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