If the Celtics are able to pull off a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade this summer, it seems like they’d largely be swapping him out for Jaylen Brown and returning an otherwise similar team. But if the Giannis pursuits go south, then Boston may look at some other ambitious plans that would completely reshape the roster around the only untouchable player, Jayson Tatum.
Everyone assumes Jaylen Brown would only be on the table for Giannis, but Brad may want to shuffle the deck and sell high on JB regardless. One path to doing so could be moving Brown to a team that has shown interest, the Pelicans, for a player we know intrigues Boston in Trey Murphy III. The Cs could take on another veteran guard who could add some rim pressure and solid defense with Dejounte Murray in the deal, and likely recoup some solid draft capital from New Orleans.
Adding Murray would also make Derrick White a bit more expendable and allow Brad to turn around and move White for another player that has long interested the Celtics, Rudy Gobert, who would give Boston one of the best defensive centers in the game to anchor the back line.
New-look Celtics projected lineup with Rudy Gobert, Trey Murphy, and Dejounte Murray
The Celtics would be left with a possible starting lineup of Payton Pritchard, Dejounte Murray, Trey Murphy III, Jayson Tatum, and Rudy Gobert, with Neemias Queta, Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, Sam Hauser, Jordan Walsh, and others coming off the bench.
They would still be able to make other moves with some of those bench players, plus some of the assets gained from the Pelicans, and they’d still be able to access the full mid-level exception, plus multiple trade exceptions.
Celtics would truly be built around Tatum
Whether or not this would actually be an improvement on the current roster is up for debate, but Boston would gain a lot of flexibility by moving off of two of their three biggest contracts, getting an elite center in Gobert, a younger wing in Murphy who is on a cheaper deal and may not need the ball as much as Brown, and another playmaker in Murray.
They’d have better positional balance and more flexibility going forward with Gobert and Murray each entering the final guaranteed years of their deals and Murphy on a great value contract that runs through the end of the 2028-29 season. This would be a massive pivot for Boston, but maybe it’s one the team needs.
If Brad thinks the toothpaste is out of the tube with Brown and he needs to be moved, this would be a solid alternative plan to an all-in push for Giannis. The Celtics would be well set up for the present and future, and would have plenty of opportunities to continue hunting for upgrades.
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