Ever since the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade went down and the Celtics came up short, all focus has shifted to Jaylen Brown and his future, with or without Boston. But the talk has gone from Brad Stevens angling to move JB for Giannis to the Cs shopping him around as if they have no choice but to get rid of him.
Shams Charania has said the team is actively engaged and moving with a purpose towards a Brown deal, Brian Windhorst has said he expects a bidding war and that he thinks Brown gets traded, and Zach Lowe recently claimed he believes Jaylen has played his last game with the Celtics.
Things have gone completely off the rails very quickly, so it was nice to hear Jake Fischer try to get things back on track. In his latest live stream for Bleacher Report, Fischer stated that he doesn’t get the sense that Boston has to move on from Brown, explaining that they are only looking for deals that would improve the team, much like was the case with a Giannis pursuit.
“There is a healthy dose of thought around the NBA that Boston can’t move forward with Jaylen Brown on the roster. I have not been told that…Boston is very much moving forward in the market with the thought that they don’t have to trade Jaylen Brown…I don’t believe at this juncture that the Celtics want to move Brown unless it makes them better.”
He went on to dismiss the idea of a team like the Trail Blazers prying JB away from Boston with a package built around draft picks, insisting that the Celtics want to stay in contention and believe that they can move on with Brown if they deem that to be the best path forward based on his trade market.
Celtics aren't going to trade Brown simply to trade him
It’s reasonable and nice to hear this level-headed reporting about the team’s plan. Trading Brown was always going to be in play given his salary and the way the season ended, but it never made sense to simply sell him to the highest bidder if there isn’t an appealing offer out there.
And the longer this goes on, the more it appears that may be the case. It doesn’t sound like Brown has asked for a trade or communicated any desire to leave Boston. And on the Celtics end, it doesn’t seem like they are desperate to move him.
This just feels like a team at a bit of a crossroads, wanting to improve, doing their due diligence, and weighing all options. That’s exactly what they should be doing, and maybe this does lead to a Jaylen Brown blockbuster that transforms the roster. But also, maybe Stevens and company deem that the best move for the Celtics is chugging along with Brown and Jayson Tatum. That’s a proven recipe for success, and if there’s no compelling reason to deviate, then the Celtics won’t
Add us as a preferred source on Google