There's nothing wrong with starting high in negotiations. What should ruffle feathers in the offices at the Auerbach Center is that the Golden State Warriors seemingly had no issue leaking a trade offer from the Boston Celtics.
According to Anthony Slater of ESPN, they proposed sending Jaylen Brown to the Bay Area for Jimmy Butler, four first-round picks, and a first-round pick swap.
That intel probably didn't come from Boston. What would be the incentive?
On the contrary, the Celtics, as much as any team in sports, value the privacy trade conversations should come with. That's not guaranteed, but it is a respect and a courtesy they practice. It's often reciprocated. In this case, it wasn't.
That's fine; it comes with the territory. Everyone must play the PR game. It's still a case of being done dirty.
Reading between the lines of the Warriors' Jaylen Brown leak
The idea that Boston approached Golden State with such a steep ask leading up to the draft, then walked away from the table, doesn't make sense.
And at Brad Stevens' press conference after sending Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Celtics' president of basketball operations stated, "If that exact deal came from a team out West and you were comparing the two, then you probably take the team out West, but that's not the way it was working."
What that suggests is that the Warriors didn't just balk at a middle ground between Boston's initial ask and the deal consummated with the Sixers, centering around Paul George and two first-round picks; they could've had Brown for their version of that trade.
For Golden State, that meant Butler and two picks. Perhaps the Celtics would have packaged that capital to make a stronger run at acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo.
That was a motivation for their initial request to the San Francisco-based club, per Slater. The hope was to use some of that newfound draft capital, and Butler's contract to help land the two-time MVP.
The Warriors aren't doing right by Stephen Curry
As the C's try to do right by Jayson Tatum, the Dubs don't appear to be doing so by their star, Stephen Curry.
They had a chance to acquire Anthony Davis and LeBron James for a heavy discount; they passed. And while it appears like they were happy to leak Boston's most costly proposal, logic and Stevens' statement suggest they could've landed Brown for a price they should have paid from this vantage point. Doing so was another path that probably brings James to the Bay.
It's no wonder Golden State wouldn't want that information to come to light. Curry is a franchise icon. Warriors fans would love nothing more than to see him competing for championships again -- that and to finish his career without ever changing teams.
Instead, the organization seems to be overly fixated on planning for the post-Curry era. Just as there was a PR incentive for them to leak the offer they turned down, if a report came out that they passed on acquiring Brown for a price equal to what the 76ers paid, knowing it also cost them James, it would figure to draw the fury of their fan base.
They're counting on the Celtics and everyone else not to say anything. But if you read between the lines, it sounds like Stevens already did.
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