Outside of Jayson Tatum, it hasn’t felt like anyone on the Boston Celtics’ roster is safe as the team heads into a crucial offseason. There’s been more discussion in the community about possibly trading Jaylen Brown or Derrick White over this past month than in any of the recent summers.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst joined Bobby Manning on a special Celtics offseason preview on CLNS Media’s YouTube channel where he poured some water on that chatter.
“I have not heard any material or true discussions,” Windhorst told Manning on Sunday. “I’m sure someone has called on Jaylen Brown, maybe. But, I have not heard one iota of Jaylen Brown truly being available or Derrick White being available.”
Rumors surrounding the Celtics can be tough, right?
On one hand, Windhorst is undeniably tapped into what’s going on around the league. He’s been an insider at ESPN for quite some time, so his credibility shouldn’t be questioned.
Since Brad Stevens moved into the president of basketball operations role in 2021, the front office has effectively worked in complete silence. Every personnel change that has actually happened has come out of nowhere. Boston, under Stevens, has not leaked their plans to the media.
With that being said, this is a report that doesn’t have to come from the Celtics themselves. Windhorst has likely heard from more than one team that the Cs haven’t been overly receptive to deals for either player.
Just last week, Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor shared that Boston quickly shut down the Cleveland Cavaliers’ interest in White back at the February trade deadline.
Fans should feel confident that what Windy is saying is accurate.
The Celtics are smart not to overreact to the way their season ended.
They also should be feeling pretty pleased.
Was the way that the season ended beyond disappointing?
Yes, absolutely.
It doesn’t mean that the front office should be overeager to hit the reset button. The reality of the 2025-26 season is that this Celtics team was never built to try and compete for a championship. Their goal for the year was to avoid the second-apron threshold and take a step towards resetting the repeater tax penalties.
They did both of those things.
Because of those goals, they didn’t have the talent surrounding their core necessary to make a deep playoff run. Jayson Tatum only played in 16 regular season games, after spending 10 months recovering from his torn Achilles tendon.
Long story short, this is not the season that should be the final straw for this current Celtics core -- though their recent string of playoff disappointments shouldn’t be ignored, either.
Their best course of action in preparation for the 2026-27 campaign should be to fill out the fringes of the roster and give Tatum, Brown, White, and the rest of the crew a less-chaotic attempt at another championship climb.
The only way that they should entertain trading any of their core stars is if they truly feel it'd make them better -- like if they were to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even then, the front office would have to make that decision with care.
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