Jaylen Brown is going to get traded. That’s not a rumor anymore, at least according to NBA insider Brian Windhorst. He said it flat-out on the UNSPORTSMANLIKE podcast. No hedging, no pulling back.
“He’s gonna get traded,” Windhorst said.
The Celtics have been circling this idea for a while. Brown is an All-Star. He averaged 26.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists last season, shot over 49 percent from the floor. He’s 27 years old, in his prime, and one of the most explosive two-way wings in the league. But the Celtics just paid Jayson Tatum a supermax extension. Brown’s own contract, the five-year, $304 million supermax he signed last summer, kicks in next season. That’s a lot of money tied up in two guys who play the same position, especially when Boston’s roster still has holes in the frontcourt and depth issues.
The math is ugly. The Celtics are already in the second apron of the luxury tax. That restricts how they can add players, limits their ability to aggregate salaries in trades, freezes their draft picks. It’s a system designed to break up teams that spend too much. And the Celtics, with Tatum and Brown both making max money, are spending a ton. Something has to give.
Windhorst pointed out something interesting. Brad Stevens, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations, has praised Brown publicly. He’s called him a great player, a great teammate. But he hasn’t said the one thing that would actually kill a trade rumor: that Brown is untouchable.
“It’s not a guarantee that they’re going to be able to find a deal that they like that’s going to improve the team, but I think they are intending to trade him,” Windhorst added.
That’s the key part. The Celtics aren’t just fielding calls. They’re making them. They’re looking for the right package. A deal that makes them better not just next season but in the long run. That’s a tough needle to thread. You’re trading a superstar in his prime. You need multiple starters, young players with upside, and draft capital. But teams have done it before. The Clippers traded Blake Griffin. The Thunder traded Paul George. It can work if you hit on the return.
Boston has a history of making hard decisions. They traded Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to start the last rebuild. They traded Isaiah Thomas right after he played through his sister’s death. They traded Marcus Smart, the heart of the team, last summer for Kristaps Porzingis. The front office doesn’t get sentimental.
The question is who wants Brown and what they’d offer. The Rockets have the picks and young players. The Spurs could pair him with Victor Wembanyama. The Thunder have a stockpile of assets. The Knicks are always looking for another star. Right now, it’s just speculation. But Windhorst is about as connected as any reporter out there. When he says a team intends to trade a player, it’s worth paying attention.
More to come on this one.
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