Should the Boston Celtics trade Jaylen Brown for Kevin Durant?

Should the Boston Celtics trade Jaylen Brown for Kevin Durant?

Kevin Durant – The Slim Reaper, Easy Money Sniper, Mr. Burner Phone. Whatever you call him, just don’t forget the two rings, four scoring titles, 10 All-NBA nods, and 2013-14 MVP trophy. Yes, even at age 33 and after suffering a ruptured Achilles just a few years ago, Durant is still arguably the best player in the world. This is the same guy who was a big toe away from singlehandedly sending the Brooklyn Nets to the NBA Finals last year. He’s the same guy who, back in January, much of the sports world was calling the best player on the planet. And yes, to the amusement of Boston Celtics fans, he’s also the same guy that was swept in the first round of the NBA Playoffs this year.

However you chop it up, no player in NBA history with the status and talent of Durant has ever requested a trade before. This puts the Nets in uncharted waters, and the entire league opening their chests of assets to try to land the all-time great on their roster.

This begs the question: should the Celtics trade for Durant?

While Durant and the Nets’ embarrassing sweep to the Boston Celtics left NBA fans with a sour taste in their mouth, KD just clocked one of the greatest regular seasons of his career. His nearly 30 points per game were the most he’s averaged since his MVP season in OKC, and his shooting splits remained consistent at 52/38/91 — all while logging the most minutes per game since his age-25 season.

In short, yeah…he’s still that guy.

What the Nets would like in return for Durant will likely end up being the largest trade package in NBA history, with Brian Windhorst saying on ESPN’s Get Up:

"“From what I’ve been told, the Nets are telling teams that they want a young star player and they’re looking for at least three first-round draft picks.”"

The NBA is littered with young star players that the Nets would like in return for Durant, but the problem with getting one of these players in return lies with former Philadelphia 76er and newest Brooklyn Net, Ben Simmons.

While a member of the 76ers, Simmons signed a five-year deal to remain in Philadelphia, the team that originally drafted him 1st overall in 2016. Per the NBA’s Designated Rookie Rule, a team is allowed to sign a player coming off their rookie contract to a five-year extension (rather than the typical four) if they are the team that originally drafted the player.

A team is allowed to have two of these contracts on their roster and are only allowed to trade for one. For example, the Denver Nuggets signed both Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray to five-year post rookie max extensions. The Nuggets would be allowed to trade one or both for Simmons, but they wouldn’t be allowed to add a third post rookie max contract to their books.

More importantly for the Nets, if a team acquires one of these contracts via trade, then they are not allowed to trade for another one. Since Brooklyn traded for Simmons and his contract, they are not allowed to trade for another player who also signed a 5-year post rookie extension unless they unload Simmons’ contract first — or if Simmons goes back the other way in the trade.

This makes the list of players that the Nets can’t trade for perhaps more intriguing than the list of players that they can.

The list of teams that are left for the Nets to get proper value from is heavily impacted due to trade restrictions regarding Simmons being on their roster. Durant has said that he would only play for Miami if they didn’t trade Bam Adebayo, but Bam is arguably the Heat’s most valuable trade chip, and the Nets aren’t allowed to roster him unless they first get rid of Simmons.

For the Celtics to get involved in the Durant sweepstakes, Jayson Tatum would have to be off the table due to him being one of the 14 players around the league who are ineligible due to their post rookie max extensions. This would almost certainly mean that any Celtics trade package to the Nets for Kevin Durant would have to be centered around Jaylen Brown.

This begs the question: would you do it?

On one hand, adding Durant to this Celtics lineup would immediately make them the overwhelming favorites to win the NBA Championship. A team two wins from their first championship in over a decade adding arguably the most prolific scorer the sport has ever seen would undoubtedly be enough to push them over the top. Not to mention the offensive juggernaut that having Tatum and Durant in the same lineup would be. The Boston Celtics would still be elite on defense and their scoring numbers would take a jump.

It’s also not a guarantee that Brown will still be in Boston in a few years. With only two years left on his deal, rumors have been swirling for weeks that Jaylen Brown may not be such a sure fit to stay after all. If that’s the case, wouldn’t you rather have three years of Durant over two years of Brown?

If you’re the Celtics, you have to do that trade right? But would you risk potentially shortening your window for it?

Without Jaylen Brown, the Celtics likely don’t get past Miami. When Tatum struggled in the playoffs, it was Brown’s scoring that often kept them afloat. In the regular season his nearly 24 ppg put him just outside the top 10, and his 47/36/76 splits made him among the elite scorers in the NBA. Brown’s length and athleticism also make him one of the best two-way players in the game. Players like Jaylen Brown are hard to come by, and at only 25-years-old, he’s still getting better.

Plus, the way that the Boston Celtics are constructed, it can be argued that they don’t need Durant.

The Celtics were just two wins away from their eighteenth championship, which was noticeably with Jaylen Brown turning the ball over, Jayson Tatum having one of the most inefficient Finals series in NBA history, and more importantly, without Malcom Brogdan and Danilo Gallinari.

Would Durant make the Boston Celtics title favorites? Absolutely – but they already are. The second-best team in the league just got a whole lot better, and with their core being as young as it is, they’re ready to compete for the next decade.

The Celtics have a 24-year-old Jayson Tatum and a 25-year-old Jaylen Brown. The two just went to the NBA Finals for the first time in their careers and took one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history to Game 6.

Would you be willing to give it all up for 3 years of Durant?