Celtics News

[Who]

As a reminder, Cleveland is currently over the second apron.  They can't take on more salary in a trade than they send out, nor can they aggregate players. So, as things stand at this moment, a JB trade to Cleveland isn't possible..

Does that mean that it has to be a 1-for-1 swap?

Jaylen makes more than any player on the Cavs. Since the Cavs can't take back more money than they send out they can't do a 1-1 swap. But they also can't aggregate money. So there's no way to do the deal unless they first drop salary.

Currently they are only 200K over the 2nd apron, but they also have only 11 players under contract and will need to get to 14 to fill out the roster. So in reality they are more like 8 million over at minimum.

I was thinking maybe CLE could get below that mark by sign and trading J Allen for LeBron James. Get LeBron to give up a little coin to give them the flexibility they need to trade for Jaylen.

But that may no longer make sense without E Mobley on the team. No Mobley no J Allen. No big men.

G: Harden
G: D Mitchell
F: Jaylen
F: LeBron
C: (FA?)

------------------

So they would need to trade one of their role players like Strus or Schroder to get below the 2nd apron. That looks doable.

[celticinorlando]

I would rather trade Brown for Mitchell. would solve the back court issue. Don't lose scoring.

Then find a big via FA.

[Bobshot]

I'm not sure Brown is going anywhere --much to the chagrin of that largely NY based media--unless it's for Jokic or something close to that in a post up big.
Mobley's name is getting thrown around. He might be expendable. Can't think of anyone else. Stevens isn't about to trade Brown for a poo poo platter. Kessler comes to mind if Danny Ainge is still active in Utah. But not for Brown.
Stevens is getting some unfair knocks from the media for apparently attempting to trade Brown (one never really knows). At the worst, Jaylen is showing he has a thin skin, and should stay away from ESPN. It doesn't help him with Celtics management.
The draft turned out well, as usual for Stevens. He got a big athletic 4-5 who will need some coaxing to stay inside and bang the boards. And then the kid from St Johns who reminds me of Dennis Rodman. The player, not the character.

[SparzWizard]

I'm not sure Brown is going anywhere --much to the chagrin of that largely NY based media--unless it's for Jokic or something close to that in a post up big.
Mobley's name is getting thrown around. He might be expendable. Can't think of anyone else. Stevens isn't about to trade Brown for a poo poo platter. Kessler comes to mind if Danny Ainge is still active in Utah. But not for Brown.
Stevens is getting some unfair knocks from the media for apparently attempting to trade Brown (one never really knows). At the worst, Jaylen is showing he has a thin skin, and should stay away from ESPN. It doesn't help him with Celtics management.
The draft turned out well, as usual for Stevens. He got a big athletic 4-5 who will need some coaxing to stay inside and bang the boards. And then the kid from St Johns who reminds me of Dennis Rodman. The player, not the character.

Denver would laugh and hang up if we're offering Jaylen Brown for Jokic. The starting price for Jokic is Tatum and that includes more pieces.

[celticinorlando]

Wonder if Brad goes this route with some other pieces for JB. Brown and Cade would be pretty good.


Evan Sidery
@esidery
?
28m
Jalen Duren plans to explore sign-and-trade scenarios after contract negotiations have stalled out with the Pistons, per
@sam_amick
 (https://nytimes.com/athletic/7396928/2026/06/26/jalen-duren-pistons-negotiations-extension-trade/).

There is a large enough gap in value from Duren?s camp and Detroit where he feels like it?s best to now play elsewhere.

[Celtics2021]

Wonder if Brad goes this route with some other pieces for JB. Brown and Cade would be pretty good.


Evan Sidery
@esidery
?
28m
Jalen Duren plans to explore sign-and-trade scenarios after contract negotiations have stalled out with the Pistons, per
@sam_amick
 (https://nytimes.com/athletic/7396928/2026/06/26/jalen-duren-pistons-negotiations-extension-trade/).

There is a large enough gap in value from Duren?s camp and Detroit where he feels like it?s best to now play elsewhere.

Depends how much Duren is looking for.  His max for a non-Detroit team is 4 years, $177 million.  He had about as bad a postseason as Queta, and he does not have the excuse of going against an Embiid who was feeling healthy for a few games.  How do people feel about paying him $40+ million per year?

To make a deal, Detroit would have to create enough cap space to fit in JB.  They could do that by waiving Duncan Robinson, renouncing all their cap holds, and adding Ron Holland to a trade with Duren.  This would give them their room level exception and minimum salaries to fill out their roster.  Tobias Harris would likely be a cap casualty as a result.

[celticinorlando]

Is this trade a futures trade just to get off salary? I would think you would want back real players to pair with JT in his prime. It does feel like the Cs are pricing Brown so high that maybe that can't move him by their own standards.

If this is about picks and prospects then the rebuild is on.

The Boston Celtics have demanded four first round picks for Jaylen Brown. 

Per: @ShamsCharania

[Who]

Is this trade a futures trade just to get off salary? I would think you would want back real players to pair with JT in his prime. It does feel like the Cs are pricing Brown so high that maybe that can't move him by their own standards.

If this is about picks and prospects then the rebuild is on.

The Boston Celtics have demanded four first round picks for Jaylen Brown. 

Per: @ShamsCharania

Really? 4 picks? Rebuilding? Or retooling anyway.

If we are going down that road, why not do it last season? With Tatum out it would have secured a high lotto pick? Why now?

If we are indeed going down that road, why not trade D White for picks as well? Reload around Tatum & Pritchard and Queta & the young guys.

--------------

That Shams report is hard to believe. 4 picks. Blowing up a title contender for the unknown. Ugh ...

[Who]

According to Brian Windhorst, Boston is actively discussing Brown with multiple teams and expects those conversations to continue as the organization considers reshaping its roster. ?He?s going to get traded,? the analyst said on ESPN?s Unsportsmanlike.

Windhorst also noted that while Celtics president Brad Stevens praised Brown during his recent media availability, he never ruled out the possibility of a trade.

?He obviously told him that there was a good chance they?re going to trade him,? Windhorst added. ?It?s not a guarantee that they?re going to find a deal that they like that?s going to improve the team, but I think they are intending to trade him.?

[Roy H.]

Is this trade a futures trade just to get off salary? I would think you would want back real players to pair with JT in his prime. It does feel like the Cs are pricing Brown so high that maybe that can't move him by their own standards.

If this is about picks and prospects then the rebuild is on.

The Boston Celtics have demanded four first round picks for Jaylen Brown. 

Per: @ShamsCharania

It depends on what those picks are.  I mean, if Bridges and Bane can return that, JB obviously should be able to.  I'm just not sure that I love that deal for where our franchise is.

[Celtics2021]

Is this trade a futures trade just to get off salary? I would think you would want back real players to pair with JT in his prime. It does feel like the Cs are pricing Brown so high that maybe that can't move him by their own standards.

If this is about picks and prospects then the rebuild is on.

The Boston Celtics have demanded four first round picks for Jaylen Brown. 

Per: @ShamsCharania

Depends who they are talking to and if there is bad salary coming along with picks or not.  Say they were talking to Charlotte, who could combine JB into the LaMelo-Randle-Reid deal quite easily by adding just a small amount of salary, and demanding four firsts.  Maybe they know that Detroit will sign-and-trade Duren for two firsts, and they know Denver would take a 1st for a sign-and-trade of Peyton Watson, both restricted free agents.  You probably could sign those two for about the same amount of cash as JB.  Duren, Watson and a first is not so much a rebuild as it is a pivot and a retooling.

That is just an example, of course.  Not saying it would be a great deal; it depends how one might view Duren (who I find overrated) and Watson (who I find underrated).  But first-round picks could either be asked for because the Celtics want to keep them, or because they have other moves they know they could immediately make with them.  First round picks could also be on their own, or also included with useful players.  Four first plus Trey Murphy and DeJounte Murray would be great.  Four firsts and Jordan Poole and Jordan Hawkins would not be.

[Roy H.]

I'm really not enthusiastic about trading JB at the height of his career for a downgrade in immediate talent.

I was in on Giannis.  But, barring that, there are a bunch of different avenues I would have explored before trading JB, including changing the coaching staff, and moving just about anybody on the roster outside of Tatum and Brown.

If a trade brings back comparable talent, fine.  But if it's picks and middling "prospects", it's a failure.  A Mookie Betts / John Henry type of deal, which wouldn't bode well for new ownership.

[Who]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIFWwdTwqj4

Noa Dalzell has a 10min clip where she has some clips from the Brad Stevens presser. She came away from that presser being less certain than before that Jaylen would return for next season. Still felt it could go either way. Not that Jaylen is definitely going. Just that it was a higher possibility than she thought prior to the presser.

The clip she had of Stevens where he was asked about his recent conversations with Jaylen and whether Jaylen still wants to be in Boston (2:20 to 3:20 in link) ... Stevens answers that he will always keep conversations private. A non-answer answer.

I didn't think much of that question & answer when I watched the presser the other day but listening to that question a 2nd time it does make me wonder if Jaylen has asked for a trade and Stevens was just avoiding it with his non-answer reply.

[Celtics2021]

I'm really not enthusiastic about trading JB at the height of his career for a downgrade in immediate talent.

I was in on Giannis.  But, barring that, there are a bunch of different avenues I would have explored before trading JB, including changing the coaching staff, and moving just about anybody on the roster outside of Tatum and Brown.

If a trade brings back comparable talent, fine.  But if it's picks and middling "prospects", it's a failure.  A Mookie Betts / John Henry type of deal, which wouldn't bode well for new ownership.

I would argue it is not the exact same thing, because the cap rules in the NBA are real and restrictive, whereas in baseball they are not.  JB?s contract does keep the Celtics from doing other things.  Having two 35% max players in the new CBA might just make fielding a long-term contender impossible, and if we can only keep one, it should be Tatum.

Picks and prospects, combined with salary flexibility, can likely be turned into other players this summer.  The devil is in the details, of course.

[keevsnick]

I' find the Duren S&T for Brown rumors more credible if Detroit didn't just trade away their good backup center for peanuts. Just can't see Duren not being back on Detroit.