Boston Celtics Kevin Durant trade: Analyst says ‘you’d be a fool not to investigate’ Jaylen Brown for KD swap

Jack MacMullan, a long-time Boston Celtics analyst and a trusted voice in the community, said on NBC Sports Boston’s Early Edition that ‘you’d be a fool not to investigate’ dangling Jaylen Brown in trade talks for Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant.

MacMullan made sure to differentiate the current Brown chatter and the Celtics’ near-constant efforts to trade Ray Allen away during the early 2010s before the sharpshooter signed with the Miami Heat during the 2012 offseason.

MacMullan conceded that for Brown or any NBA professional, it ‘always hurts’ to hear your name in trade discussions, but also added that Boston Celtics President of basketball operations Brad Stevens ‘isn’t doing his job if he doesn’t investigate’ swapping Brown for a generational talent and former 2x NBA Finals MVP who just scored 30 points per game in 2021-22.

Here’s how MacMullan broke down the situations Brown is in and Allen was in a decade ago:

"“People never understood why Ray Allen left the Celtics. I understood exactly why, because they were actively trading to trade him, and in the end, they didn’t. In the end they didn’t, and then they were shocked when he was bruised enough to say, ‘I’m going to move on and go to the team that’s going to help beat you.’ Those are two different scenarios to me.”“The Celtics aren’t actively trying to trade Jaylen Brown.”"

The Boston Celtics appear to be ready to stand pat without a Kevin Durant deal

The Celtics roster’s fringes need some tweaking, but a training camp battle between veterans that are looking for another NBA shot (Noah Vonleh, Bruno Caboclo), Summer League standouts (Matt Ryan, Broderic Thomas), and someone in both categories (Justin Jackson).

Unless Boston does make the biggest move the ‘Association’ will have ever seen and land Kevin Durant in a trade that’d most likely have to involve Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and a boatload of future draft picks, it seems likely that the offseason will be complete after adding Danilo Gallinari and Malcolm Brogdon and parting with, as far as rotation players, Daniel Theis, to go along with next year’s likely late first-round draft pick.