At this point, hoping the Boston Celtics will keep Jaylen Brown might be beyond wishful thinking. At the same time, it's clear that they won't just hand him over, even if they may have to settle for getting less value than what he's worth.
Even so, Boston has a pretty high price for the five-time All-Star, as The Athletic's Sam Amick revealed that Boston is asking for four first-round picks and that the Portland Trail Blazers are seen as the front-runner.
It makes sense because Brown's repertoire speaks for itself. There's no telling how good the Trail Blazers would be if they managed to add Brown without compromising the core of Jrue Holiday, Damian Lillard, and Deni Avdija. But obviously, Boston won't make it easy on Portland.
We won't know until a deal is done, but the Celtics may want more than that, as a win-now team like them wouldn't have much use for draft assets. That brings us to Trey Murphy III, someone who we know has been on Boston's radar.
Not too long after Amick's article dropped, Yahoo Sports! Kevin O'Connor dropped some intel of his own, including that New Orleans firmly wants three first-round picks for Murphy, though teams are holding firmly at two.
It doesn't take half a brain to connect the dots here.
Celtics want those picks to swap for Murphy
O'Connor summarized Murphy's value as a player, writing "He is by far the best shooter on the Pelicans, one of their few players who cleanly fits any lineup, and one of their most versatile defenders."
That's the kind of player that would fit in quite well with Boston, especially if and when the Brown trade goes through. Maybe Boston would still firmly hold at two (and they would have more appeal as a trade partner if it were another team's picks), but if Portland succumbs to their demands for Brown, Boston could do the same for New Orleans in a Murphy trade and not worry about their future.
All of this intel further confirms Boston's priorities are to stay good above all else even in the midst of trading Brown in the coming days. Murphy isn't as good as Brown is (as far as we know), but the Celtics know first-hand how lethal he can be when he's got it going.
As far as why the Pelicans are even trying to trade Murphy in the first place, the answer is pretty mind-blowing:
Because shut up...
But if the Celtics can get him while both acquiring talented players from Portland and keeping some assets left over to add more help, they would still be heartbroken to lose Brown, but could have a well-rounded enough team to not lose any sleep if and when they do.
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