Trading Jaylen Brown following an MVP-caliber season was a bold move from the Boston Celtics.
Recently, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Boston explored trading Brown at the February trade deadline. They had held conversations with the Golden State Warriors.
According to Logan Murdock of The Ringer, the reason Golden State opted against trading for Brown was that they didn’t view him as the long-term solution to guide the franchise into the post-Stephen Curry era.
“Should they have gotten in on the Jaylen Brown sweepstakes? The Warriors had an opportunity to trade for the former Celtic before the deadline in February. But they couldn’t build an organizational consensus that Brown would be the right player to carry the Warriors beyond the Curry era,” Murdock reported.
One thing Celtics fans learned this summer is that Brown’s trade value around the NBA was far lower than anyone expected. His $285 million contract, coupled with poor advanced analytics, meant that multiple franchises didn’t view him as a viable long-term addition to their rosters.
In part, that’s why Brown was ultimately traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in return for Paul George, two future first-round draft picks and two future second-round draft picks.
Warriors Opted Not To Trade For Brown
Charania’s comments regarding Boston’s discussions with the Warriors came during a recent appearance on ‘The Stephen A Smith Show.’
“The Warriors could’ve got in the Jaylen Brown sweepstakes if they wanted to give up 4 first-round picks-ish, in that range,” Charania said. “They decided not to, from my understanding.”
Charania continued.
“Those two teams, the Warriors and Celtics, did talk about a Jaylen Brown trade around the trade deadline. It was around several first-round draft picks, potential swaps, and seconds. The Warriors decided not to go down that route, and so that’s on them. That’s the decision they made.”
It’s interesting to think about how Boston’s fan base would have reacted had Brown been traded mid-season. After all, he was a key part of Joe Mazzulla’s team overachieving to finish the regular season as the second seed in the Eastern Conference.
Celtics May Not Have Wanted To Pay Brown
Brown entered the summer knowing he was about to become eligible for a two-year $141 million contract extension. According to Charania, the Celtics may have been reluctant to offer such a lucrative extension.
“They knew they were not going to offer Jaylen Brown the two-year, $140 million contract extension,” Charania said via ‘The Pat McAfee Show. “That would have caused a reaction. Both sides would have had to have even harder conversations, and this could have gone another way. This could have gotten ugly potentially because you’ve already shopped the player multiple times. In 2022, he was offered for Kevin Durant.”
After being traded to Philadelphia, Brown’s extension eligibility has now been moved to next summer. It will be interesting to see whether the Sixers opt to offer him an extension. Of course, they could continue to run his current deal down before making a decision.
New Details Reveal Why Celtics Couldn’t Trade Jaylen Brown to Warriors