Should the Boston Celtics actually trade for Kevin Durant?

After falling two games short of their 18th championship banner, the Boston Celtics have made a lot of noise this offseason.

Shortly after their NBA Finals defeat, the C’s made their first move of the summer, as they acquired veteran point guard, Malcolm Brogdon, via trade with the Indiana Pacers.

To get Brogdon, Brad Stevens and co. gave up a first-round draft pick, Aaron Nesmith, Daniel Theis, Nik Stauskas, Malik Fitts, and Juwan Morgan.

Boston did an excellent job keeping their core players intact and still improved their bench. With Brogdon in tow, he will serve as the team’s sixth man and will probably be the best bench player in the NBA.

Now, while his addition alone would have made the summer an absolute success for the reigning league runner-ups, the front office managed to execute one more sensational transaction that only furthered their bench bolstering endeavors.

Shortly after the Brogdon trade, the Boston Celtics signed Danilo Gallinari to a two-year $13.3 million contract.

The ball club had limited scoring off the bench last year, which showed in their deep playoff run.  With the addition of Brogdon and Gallinari, the Celtics have easily shored up this weakness and, in turn, are in the driver’s seat to make it back to the Finals, so, naturally, this brings us to our main question of the day and, frankly, to the main reason why you all clicked on this article to begin with: why on earth would this team break up this incredibly strong core for Kevin Durant?

According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania (subscription required), the Boston Celtics offered Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and a draft pick to the Nets in a recent offer for the megastar wing.

This reported trade proposal was ultimately rejected, as Brooklyn was seeking more assets from the Celtics in return. For the trade to satisfy Brooklyn, apparently Boston would need to include Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, a bevy of first-round draft picks, and one rotation player.

I wonder if the Boston Celtics forget that they made the Finals last year.

They had zero bench contribution during their sensational playoff run and still fought their way to the championship round. The only reason why the team made it so far was because of the play of their core players, which, of course, are headlined by the likes of Tatum, Brown, and Smart.

Trading some of these core players will break the chemistry of a young solid foundation. With Durant being eight years older than Brown and only appearing in 90 games over the last three seasons, why would the C’s want to break up their core roster?

Knowing Durant’s recent injury history, there is no way Boston should be willing to part ways with so many assets for an aging All-Star.

Boston Celtics: Projected KD trade offer

The key for the Celtics is to not give up their key core players, namely Tatum, Brown, and Smart.

At this point, the only offer I personally would like to see the C’s shell out Brooklyn’s way would be:

Realistically, there is no way the Boston Celtics are going to give up Smart and Brown for KD. The age difference between these two latter players makes a huge difference.

Maybe the Celtics can include Brogdon in their package, but with his potential off the bench, it will be hard to give that up. The Nets are setting the bar high for a player who has been injury prone the last three years.

Durant is a tremendous player, but how many more years does he have left in the tank? Also, Durant is known for jumping ship, so how do the Celtics know he wants to play in Boston long-term?

It is a big risk for the ball club, but I believe it is a risk they aren’t willing to take.

Boston Celtics: Jaylen Brown vs. Kevin Durant

Now, I’m absolutely sure that everyone who watches the NBA would say Kevin Durant is clearly the better player at this point in time, but Jaylen Brown is eight years younger and is much more athletic.

KD is not built like LeBron James, and his back and Achilles issues will almost certainly start slowing him down eventually.

Brown had another solid 2021-2022 season and continues to improve every year. Tatum and Brown are building excellent chemistry!

KD would come in and ruin all that chemistry.

The superstar is a distraction on every team he goes to and he has seemingly proven that he is not a team player.

The offense needs to run through him and if the Boston Celtics make the reported trade, what does that mean for Jason Tatum? If the Celtics get KD, it will slow down Tatum’s development.

The C’s need a team player and Jaylen Brown is perfect for that role.

Brown and Tatum complement each other very well and it will take a lot for this duo to be broken up.