Jason Burgos
The Boston Celtics seem dead set on a Jaylen Brown trade this summer because the front office believes this current team isn’t “good enough” to compete with the East elites.
Heading into the 2026 NBA playoffs, many basketball pundits proclaimed the Celtics were the team to beat in the East. They had one of the best defenses in the league. Brown was a legitimate NBA MVP contender. And Jayson Tatum was looking like an All-NBA player again after returning from a ruptured Achilles.
However, the narrative about the team quickly changed when they blew a 3-1 lead in the quarterfinals against the Philadelphia 76ers. In response to the early postseason ouster, the Celtics pursued a trade for Milwaukee Bucks icon Giannis Antetokounmpo, and dangled Brown in conversations. If any player was worth trading one of the pillars of their roster, it would be the 10-time All-Star.
When that pursuit failed this week, the assumption was that the Celtics would try to improve the roster around the core combo of Brown and Tatum. However, it seems there is a divide between the guard and the team, and Boston has been in “active” talks with multiple teams about a trade over the last 48 hours. That has surprised many in and outside the game. However, a new report from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Jamal Collier explains why Boston wants to make a Brown trade that isn’t for Antetokounmpo.
“The Celtics had lost in the first round to the Philadelphia 76ers, sparking a series of organizational discussions that led to the conclusion that the current roster simply ‘wasn’t good enough,’ as one Celtics source put it.”
– Ramona Shelburne and Jamal Collier
After winning the NBA Finals in 2024 — their second trip in three years — the Celtics have regressed. They were eliminated by the New York Knicks in the semifinals last year. Then, in the opening round by the 76ers this year. Clearly, this current group is not as formidable as previous seasons. But it is difficult for them to improve the roster with so much money tied up in Brown and Tatum.
Following an MVP-level season, the five-time All-Star’s value has never been higher. If Boston feels they need to shake up the roster, they could make a deal that helps them in the short and long-term by trading the 2024 NBA Finals MVP now.
