The Timberwolves pulled off a stunning blockbuster trade on Thursday morning, sending Naz Reid and significant draft capital to the Hornets for LaMelo Ball and Josh Green. It’s a big swing for the Wolves, and it’s interesting, as in the aftermath of the deal, it was reported that the Wolves were engaged in trade talks with the Celtics around Jaylen Brown.
But according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, the Wolves “saw LaMelo Ball as fitting more of what they needed, for likely less compensation going out”. Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo! Sports reported something similar, but we’ve heard nothing yet from the Celtic point of view.
So, we don’t know exactly what was on the table or discussed, but for weeks, we’ve been hearing of Boston's interest in bigs like Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid. The Wolves would have had to send out more money to match Brown’s salary, and there’s a reasonable chance that the Cs were looking for even more draft pick equity than what they ended up giving for LaMelo.
Still, it’s eye-opening to hear that the Wolves preferred a volatile, clearly lesser player, who comes with massive risks and red flags like Ball over Brown, who just finished 6th in MVP voting and was seen as a reasonable center piece in a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Now that the Giannis smoke has cleared and Jaylen’s name is still being attached to these trade rumors, it’s quickly becoming clear that there isn’t another good offer out there for JB. This package that Charlotte received was solid, but would have been extremely uninspiring for a player like Brown.
A perfect Jaylen Brown deal may not exist
The other deals we’re hearing floated all revolve around young players, prospects, and picks, but the more this drags on, and the more teams that showed interest, like the Wolves, seem to go in other directions, the harder it’s going to be for the Celtics to trade Brown and get any kind of decent return.
Maybe that’s the conclusion that Brad Stevens and the front office are reaching as well, and this all ends up with JB back in Boston next season. But all the powers that be in NBA media seem to believe this ends up with a Brown trade, with Shams Charania, Brian Windhorst, Zach Lowe, and others planting their flag in that camp.
And if that is the direction that the Celtics are going, they may want to move fast and find a deal that helps the team. Because the market is quickly drying up, and the last thing they want to do is end up the last team standing in this game of star-player musical chairs. As far as we know, they’re still in a fine position, but the landscape is changing quickly.
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