Getty Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics, Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards
The Boston Celtics could have an opportunity on their hands. Following the report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards will work together to find a trade for him, the Celtics could look into that. However, Brian Windhorst believes that their focus on Jaylen Brown‘s extension would mean they’re not interested in a trade for Beal.
“My feel, from talking to sources, is that the Celtics are not necessarily in on this one,” Windhorst said on ESPN’s NBA Today. “Their intention is to get Jaylen Brown done on a contract extension this year and that even if they got Jaylen Brown done, the idea of bringing in Bradley Beal would be extraordinarily difficult because of the three contracts together. I don’t think any conversation that involves trading Jaylen Brown is something the Celtics are super interested in right now.”
The Celtics could string together a number of their contracts to trade for Beal, but the Wizards will probably want good players and good assets back for the three-time all-star.
The Celtics also have to consider the new Collective Bargaining Agreement and how it affects which players they can have long-term.
Rick Barry Critcizes Jayson Tatum & Jaylen Brown
While talking with Eric Jay Santos of Inside the Celtics, NBA Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry praised Brown and Jayson Tatum, but he added that they have a certain flaw that they have to work by comparing them to one of the NBA’s most polarizing stars.
“Both (Jaylen) Brown and (Jayson) Tatum, who are two talented players, suffer from what I call (Russell) Westbrook syndrome. Westbrook is an incredible talent. I love how hard he plays, but he tries to force things. In the game of basketball, you should always be taking what the defense gives you… Both Jaylen and Jayson, they have a tendency to force things and end up getting a lot of turnovers.”
Barry won a title with the Golden State Warriors in 1975 and has his no. 24 retired by the team. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987.
Analyst Believes Celtics Should Trade Jaylen Brown
Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey wrote that trading Brown should be among the Celtics’ priorities this offseason, believing that the new CBA should make the Celtics ponder if paying him and Tatum max contracts is the best move going forward.
“Because he just made All-NBA, Jaylen Brown is eligible for a gargantuan five-year, $285.6 million extension. Jayson Tatum is almost certainly going to be one year behind with a similarly jaw-dropping deal. And under the new collective bargaining agreement, which essentially introduces a hard cap in the form of its new “second apron,” having two such contracts on the books is going to be incredibly onerous. You darn-near have to be sure you can win a title with those two guys. And while the Boston Celtics can maybe talk themselves into that, the prospect of turning Brown into more than one role player or some future assets should be on the table,” Bailey wrote.
Though that is a possibility, there have been no indications that the Celtics plan to trade Brown.