The Boston Celtics may have put Jaylen Brown on the market, but they've made it abundantly clear they want the farm for him because he's Jaylen stinking Brown. For that same reason, any interested suitor is trying to get him for pennies on the dollar. The Celtics' plan is to remain in title contention, meaning that if Brown does, they want game-changers and picks for him.
Yahoo Sports! Kelly Iko floated a potential deal between Boston and Portland that isn't the worst deal, but it certainly feels like one where the Celtics wouldn't get everything they wanted in a Brown swap.
"Technically, (a Brown) addition of that magnitude is possible even without including Morant in a deal; a package of Jrue Holiday, Shaedon Sharpe and Sidy Cissoko works under the CBA, and the Blazers have six first-round picks through 2030," Iko wrote.
No one's against a reunion with Holiday (although such a trade would negate the need for an Anfernee Simons reunion), but Sharpe, a decently athletic scorer but not a great one, and Cissoko make this feel like an underpay because Holiday is the only player with a track record of being a game-changer.
Although the saving grace is the Trail Blazers vast array of draft picks they have, and not just theirs. They have pick swaps with Milwaukee (sure to be golden post-Giannis), Orlando's first-round pick in 2028, and have Boston's on top of pretty much all their own.
That would interest the Celtics, but they want a rotation filled with game-changers because they have put a top-10 player about to hit his prime on the market.
If anything, they would use that offer as leverage
The Trail Blazers have an edge on other potential Brown suitors on how much draft capital they can dangle for Brown. However, Boston may use that to try to up the offers from other teams if they can.
What also works in the Celtics favor is that the West will be a blood bath, so if anything, while teams may not be willing to pay up for Brown, they also might not want to see him play for one of their competitors. Portland's roster construction just got a whole lot more confusing, but depending on what they give up, acquiring Brown erases that problem.
There's no doubt in my head that the reason these leaks have come out that Boston won't get nearly as much as they are asking for is that they are asking for pretty much everything possible out of Brown. The only bit of leverage any trade suitor has on them is that they know why the Celtics are trying to trade him.
It's a long summer, so no one knows what will happen, but Boston has no reason to make this easy for anyone.
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