Boston Celtics: B/R tabs future draft pick as top trade asset
Perhaps the Boston Celtics aren’t in much of a position to make a splash at the upcoming February 9 trade deadline, but their willingness to deal draft picks under President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens the past year and a half means they could be up to something in the next few weeks.
Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale made it clear that the Cs don’t have an elite trade asset to dangle from their roster in his latest piece assessing every NBA team’s best blockbuster trade asset. Still, they do have one, and it’s one that could bring in a player without giving up any in return.
Favale called the C’s 2025 first-round pick the top blockbuster trade asset due to the 2024 free agency of one of the team’s top stars:
"“Boston has the capacity to dangle first-rounders in 2025, 2027 and 2029. The latter is too far away to spotlight. It gives the Celtics plenty of time to rejigger the core if their trajectory runs astray.”“Rival teams should be most interested in the 2025 selection. It conveys relatively soon yet post-dates Brown’s entry in 2024 free agency. The current extension rules make it prohibitive for him to sign one, so he will hit the open market.”“This isn’t to imply Brown is a flight risk, but he could be. And that uncertainty coupled with the aging curve for guys like Brogdon, Smart and Al Horford injects some variance into the Celtics’ medium-term future.”"
Potential landing spots for Jaylen Brown if he leaves the Boston Celtics
The desired breaking up of the ‘Jays’ has been a longstanding storyline in NBA media, and it will only heat up if the Boston Celtics don’t win the 2023 championship. Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale made sure to honor the fact that it doesn’t look likely at this point while also floating the possibility out there.
Still, should Brown and Boston somehow have a falling out between now and the summer of 2024, where he could go next is already likely on the mind of those at his sports agents at Glushon Sports Management.
The most obvious landing spot is the Los Angeles Lakers, which he has been linked to in the past. Once LeBron James is off the books, Anthony Davis will need a co-star, and though Brown’s California roots are in Berkeley, he won’t be a Golden State Warrior anytime soon — making the Lakers the next logical landing spot.
Since the Atlanta Hawks are tied up financially, the next potential landing spot is the Los Angeles Clippers. L.A.’s other pro basketball resident will have Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on a player option, but who’s to say they don’t opt out and test free agency themselves? The Clippers haven’t done much since they arrived in 2019.
Again, Brown likely isn’t going anywhere anyway, hence why B/R chose the 2025 draft pick as their top asset regardless of his own status.