Getty Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics looks on against the Miami Heat.
Down 3-0 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals matchup against the Miami Heat, the emergency alarms are already sounding for the Boston Celtics, with fans and media pundits alike suggesting that, come the offseason, this organization could see some serious shakeups.
According to Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley, should the club fall short of title number 18 this season–which is growing more likely by the day–they may want to consider trading Jaylen Brown during the summer, and he constructed a hypothetical trade scenario with the Brooklyn Nets that he believes should be considered.
The proposed exchange reads as follows:
Boston Celtics receive: Mikal Bridges, Royce O’Neale, and the No. 21 pick (via Phoenix)
Brooklyn Nets receive: Jaylen Brown
Though Buckley rightfully deemed the talking point of “Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown can’t exist” as being a farce, he believes that the financial impact of holding onto the duo for the long term could prove to be troubling, as he pointed out that “keeping them together could eventually cost Boston north of $600 million.”
Because of this, if the Celtics exit the playoffs without an NBA title, Brad Stevens and company should strongly consider the idea of engaging in a deal with their divisional rivals in the Nets.
“Bridges can’t match Brown in stature or name recognition, but the two were almost identical on the stat sheet following Bridges’ deadline deal to Brooklyn. In 27 regular-season games for the Nets, Bridges averaged 26.1 points on 47.5/37.6/89.4 shooting. For context, Brown averaged 26.6 points on 49.1/33.5/76.5 shooting during the regular season. Brown is a better playmaker, but Bridges is a superior stopper,” Zach Buckley said.
As for Brooklyn, Buckley notes that the arrival of Jaylen Brown would have them “remain competitive even after trading both Durant and Kyrie Irving.”
Jaylen Brown is coming off his best campaign in the association, as he finished the regular season with averages of 26.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.1 steals while shooting 49.1% from the field and nabbed his first All-NBA selection and second All-Star nod as a result of his efforts.
Jaylen Brown Blasts Celtics for Game 3 Efforts
Whether the franchise opts to part with Jaylen Brown this summer or not is truly anyone’s guess at this point in time. As things currently stand, he finds himself serving as one of the main centerpieces of this Celtics team, and, at the moment, they find themselves coming off a grueling Game 3 loss to the Miami Heat Sunday evening.
During his post-game media session, the star wing shared his disdain for how he and his teammates performed on the night, going as far as to call their on-court production “embarrassing.”
“I don’t even know where to start. Obvious letdown. I feel like we let our fanbase [and] organization down. We let ourselves down and it was collective. We can point fingers but, in reality, it was just embarrassing,” Jaylen Brown said.
As a whole, the Celtics shot 39.8% from the field and 26.2% from deep and posted 102 points compared to Miami’s 128 points on 56.8% shooting from the floor and 54.3% from beyond the arc.
Jaylen Brown, individually, finished the contest with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 turnovers while going 6-for-17 from the field and a putrid 0-for-7 from deep.
Jimmy Butler Takes Shot at Celtics, Al Horford on Instagram
During Miami’s Game 3 win over the Celtics, Jimmy Butler taunted big man Al Horford by getting on one knee and showcasing the hand symbol for “timeout” after forcing Boston to huddle on the sidelines following a made 3-pointer by Gabe Vincent.
This gesture was a direct shot at the Celtics veteran for doing the same thing after going on a 13-3 run in the second period of Game 1.
After Sunday’s contest, Butler posted a number of photos to his personal Instagram account and had his mid-game gesture as the featured image.
Jimmy Butler has been a dominant force throughout the 2023 postseason and finds himself posting tremendous all-around averages of 26.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and just shy of a block while shooting 46.0% from the field through the first three games of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Miami is on the verge of advancing to their second NBA Finals in four years, as they hold a 3-0 series lead over the Celtics.