Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report recently predicted that the Boston Celtics will look to trade Jaylen Brown and/or Derrick White this summer, as they will never make an NBA Finals with Jayson Tatum as their best player again. That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
“Tatum should return next year but will likely be less than his best self until at least 2027-28,” Hughes wrote. “At that point, Jaylen Brown will be 31 and earning $61 million. Derrick White will collect $32 million in his age-33 campaign. Throw Tatum's salary in there, and Boston will have $157 million committed to three players.
“That's no way forward, which is why the Celtics will probably look to move Brown and/or White at some point in the next couple of offseasons. Tatum feels like a mainstay because of his stature in Boston and because of the contract that'll keep him maxed out through 2030, but everything else is going to change for the worse by default. Boston had loads of deep playoff runs with Tatum at the forefront, and it won a title in 2024. Another one won't arrive until long after Tatum is either gone or reduced to second-option status.
Why can’t Jayson Tatum lead Celtics again?
This take is senseless. Tatum has helped lead the Celtics to a myriad of Eastern Conference finals runs, two NBA Championships, and Banner 18, all while playing alongside Brown.
And it’s not like all those teams looked the same, either. The only true constants in the rotations were Tatum, Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Al Horford.
Of those five players, four are signed on long-term deals to be a part of the Celtics moving forward. Why can’t the Celtics build out the rest of the roster just as they have two separate times?
They made a Finals appearance with Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, Grant Williams, and Daniel Theis in the rotation, and they won a title with Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and Sam Hauser (who will also be around long-term) in their place.
Finding a new version of Horford could prove impossible, but to say that they have no shot of making it back to the promised land when the large majority of their core will remain the same doesn’t have any logic to it.
Expecting Tatum to deal with some growing pains post-injury is fair, but to completely write off him and the rest of the Celtics’ core when he will be back in the prime of his career is ridiculous.