Brad Stevens’ post-draft comments on Jaylen Brown leave more questions than answers

Moments after selecting Houston big man Chris Cenac Jr. with the 27th overall pick of the NBA Draft, Brad Stevens made his way down from the Celtics’ war room and sat at the stage set up on the practice floor at the Auerbach Center.

The draft quickly became an afterthought.

Stevens fielded just three questions about the earliest draft pick he had ever made. The rest centered on what was nearly the biggest deal he had ever made: the Celtics’ failed pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo and the fallout that could come after Jaylen Brown was offered in the trade talks.

The Celtics, who inquired about Antetokounmpo at the trade deadline in February, pursued the two-time MVP publicly in recent weeks, offering Brown and two first-round picks.

Ultimately, Milwaukee accepted Miami’s offer, which included Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, three first-round picks, one pick swap, and one second-round pick.

Stevens said he has tried to be as transparent as possible while navigating the situation involving a player he has spent the last decade with. That includes five seasons as Brown’s coach after the Celtics drafted him at just 19 years old. Brown is now 29.

The two met a few times in May and again recently, before Brown headed overseas. Throughout the last week, as rumors intensified, Stevens said he remained in regular contact with Brown’s agent, Jason Glushon.

“We spent a lot of time, just the two of us, sitting down together,” Stevens said. “And then, like every offseason, in regular touch with his agent all the way through the last couple of days. Obviously, with all the rumor mill and all that stuff, and his name being splashed all over the place, that’s not easy. But we certainly wanted to be as proactive and upfront with that as possible, and I thought we had really good, candid conversations.”

Stevens would not go into detail about his discussions with Brown, who said on his Twitch Stream back in early May, “I love Boston. If it was up to me, I could play in Boston for the next 10 years,” or how close a potential deal for Antetokounmpo came, but he did mention a handful of times the empathy he feels for Brown, and the need to be up-front throughout.

“It’s not fun, and I’m empathetic towards that. It’s not fun to be through that. And at the same time, I think my job is to be as candid and upfront as possible,” Stevens said. “It’s not easy to be in the national rumor mill, right? I’m extremely understanding of that. I think there always has to be discussions — but again, I just keep going back to this, that’s why I just try to be as upfront as possible and as candid as possible at the beginning, long before any talks begin so that our guys understand that being here and being in the limelight, they’re gonna have a lot of attention on them regardless, and then they also understand that there are things that are exaggerated at this time of the year and there are things that are real. They’ve been through all that stuff and felt all that stuff. But it doesn’t mean it’s easy.”

Perhaps Brown appreciates the conversations and candor, understands the business side of things, and would be content to stay in Boston. Or maybe, after being offered in a trade for the second time in four years (Kevin Durant in 2022), fractures the relationship.

Stevens’ comments didn’t provide much clarity, and we haven’t heard anything from Brown yet, so that, for now, remains a mystery.

When asked whether or not Brown would be on the Celtics next season, Stevens appeared to leave all options open.

“Jaylen Brown is a big part of us. I’m never going to predict the future, but every indication, everything that I think about over the past few years has been building around those guys, right? So obviously, you never know,” he said. “But at the same time, the one thing I want to make very clear is how valued he’s always been. He’s been amazing. He’s been an amazing teammate, a great person to be around. And whether that run ends 10 years from now when he retires, or before, there’s a lot to celebrate. We have a great relationship, an open relationship where we talk about everything. But I don’t want to predict the future. I look at it as, this is our team.”

Running it back with Brown and Jayson Tatum is likely Boston’s best path forward now.

It’s proven to work.

They have been one of the most successful duos in recent NBA history.

Over the course of their nine seasons together, no team has more regular-season wins (477) or playoff wins (77). They have reached five Conference Finals together, the most of any team over that stretch, and more than the Magic, Timberwolves, Raptors, Hawks, Nets, Kings, Clippers, Pelicans, and Grizzlies have reached in their entire franchise histories.

And, above all, they are NBA champions.

Brown is coming off the best year of his career, setting career highs across the board while averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists — a stat line previously reached by only two Celtics in franchise history: Larry Bird (three times) and John Havlicek (1970-71).

Jayson Tatum, who left no reason to be worried that he can’t return to his pre-injury self in the 22 games (including postseason), now has a full offseason to truly ramp up to his First-Team All-NBA self, and the Celtics have a full $15 million mid-level exception and a $27.7 million trade exception to upgrade the roster around Tatum and Brown.

If that’s the direction they choose to go, Stevens believes fully that they are capable of reaching that mountain top again.

“Yes,” he said emphatically when asked if the Jays could still bring a championship to Boston.

Time will tell what direction this thing turns. But Tuesday night’s press conference left more questions than answers ahead of what could be a franchise-altering offseason.