This trade signals to me they are tanking next year, which I think means they are trading Brown.
I don't see that. I don't feel that these trades make it any more or less likely that they trade Brown than before the trades.
The core is Tatum - Brown - White. How many teams have a better big 3 than that? Not OKC I don't think. Not IND for sure. There may not ever be a team as good as the 2023-24 Celtics again, as long as these salary and tax rules remain.
OKC clearly and by a wide margin has not only a better top 3, but also a younger one and a much deeper supporting cast. It isn't close. The Lakers have a better top 3 right now. The Warriors do as well. The Nuggets probably do as well (though that is as much because of just how better Jokic is than Tatum). Houston does, at least for next year (and a much deeper and younger team with many more high end assets to trade).
Tatum, Brown, White simply isn't a championship core. It really wasn't one when they won, they were just 6 deep in a strange year, but now they have 3 maybe 4 depending on how good Simons is. They aren't going to have the best player on the floor in the truly meaningful series, they have to beat those teams with depth and they just don't have it. The team needs a real and true reset and a full-blown 1-year tank.