Just because the Celtics offered Jaylen Brown for Kevin Durant doesn't mean they don't like him as a player or that he has no future in Boston.
The Durant rumors ramped back up early Monday morning when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Celtics offered Brown to the Brooklyn Nets for Durant. The Athletic's Shams Charania later added that Derrick White and a draft pick were included in the proposal, which the Nets rejected and countered with an offer than included Marcus Smart and potentially another rotation player.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said any offer from the Celtics likely is weeks old. But Brown has been in trade rumors much of his career, seemed annoyed by Monday’s news, is just two seasons away from free agency and the nature of his contract makes him unlikely to sign an extension with Boston before actually hitting the market as an unrestricted free agent.
Since then, there’s been plenty of speculating about what deeper meaning to take from the news. Did the Nets leak the trade to drive up the price? Do the Celtics want to get rid of Brown?
Not many people know for sure. Appearing Monday on the “Rich Eisen Show”, Windhorst explained why the Celtics might consider moving Brown.
“The Celtics as they look long-term are probably facing Jaylen Brown eventually becoming an unrestricted free agent on them in two years and them not having control over where he’s going to go,” Windhorst said. “(In) the grand scheme of problems confronting the Celtics it’s not something that’s on the front burner, but it is something that’s an issue out there. By the way, this is exactly the core reason why the San Antonio Spurs traded Dejounte Murray. …
“I don’t think the Celtics are sitting there scheming about where they can trade Jaylen Brown. I think they realize there’s a coming issue with his contract and if you’re ever going to trade him, why would you not trade him to get a player in Kevin Durant who can take you closer to a championship? I don’t think they’re making calls offering Jaylen Brown around, but when this offer presented itself, or this situation, I think they were remiss not to at least explore it.
“It doesn’t mean they don’t like (Brown). Of course, I understand that that will be the premise out there. Once something like this gets out there, it’s like ‘Oh my god they want to get rid of him, they hate him, they’re going to get rid of him in the next five minutes, he wants out of there.’ That’s not necessarily true, but I realize that it’s all buried in nuance and it’s not always going to get translated.”
As Windhorst alludes to at the end, there’s a good chance that there will be a fair amount of meaning-making around this that probably doesn't need to be done. Durant is a generational talent, and it would be absurd if Brad Stevens (or pretty much any other GM of a contending team) didn’t reach out to at least see what the cost would be or how the Nets would respond to an initial proposal. After all, if the Celtics gave an offer in hopes of finding out what the Nets actually want for Durant in their counter, then mission accomplished.
And if the Celtics aren’t going to move Jayson Tatum, then Brown, without question, would go to Brooklyn in any trade for Durant. That was obvious even prior to Monday, but it doesn’t mean they are trying to force out Brown, rather they know what the marketplace for Durant is.
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