The Boston Celtics got plenty of flak for the return they got for Jaylen Brown. When thinking about it, it was clear the package they got from Philadelphia was the best one out there. If someone wanted to top that, they had ample opportunity to do so. One team who definitely should have was the Los Angeles Clippers.
Before the Brown trade happened, the Clippers were rumored to be one of his suitors, though there were mixed reports on their interest in him. After the NBA handed down what may be the harshest punishment ever to the Clippers for the Kawhi Leonard scandal, it's clear that the Clippers should have gotten Brown when they had the chance.
The Clippers' reported interest in Brown came out after the draft, which is a shame because Boston probably would have considered it if the No. 5 pick LA had acquired from Indiana for Ivica Zubac had been on the table. Boston would likely have tried to dangle it to Milwaukee when they tried to get Giannis Antetokounmpo.
But this isn't about what the Celtics would have done, but more about how Brown would have softened the blow of what was to come from the Leonard fall out.
Brown could have helped endure the blow
When it was all said and done, the Clippers won't have their own first-round pick until 2034. That's great news for the pick swap they owe Boston two years from now, but having Brown would have made it easier to stomach.
Evidently the Clippers wanted to go younger by keeping the pick and selecting Keaton Wagler, but now they don't have a whole lot of youth to rebuild and lost the ability to try that.
If, by some miracle, they had managed to acquire Brown without giving up Darius Garland or Brandon Ingram, that wouldn't have been a contender, but it would have been something. But now they're left with those two and a bunch of players who don't make a team a contender (far from it in the West), but could be useful to round out the edges of other actual contenders.
Brown has his flaws, but he's definitely a step up from pretty much everyone else on their roster with Leonard on track to go back north. The Clippers already look bad enough for paying as much as they did to get Kawhi, get no titles from it, and now have been severely punished for circumventing the cap.
Brown would not have undone all of that. Hell, he never would have come close, but if LA had acquired, they would have gone from doomed to semi-doomed.
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