Everything wrong with the 'trade Jaylen Brown' discourse surrounding the Celtics

It didn’t take long for the discussion around the Boston Celtics to devolve into “too many threes” and “split up the Jays.” Negative news sells, so the instant the Celtics don’t live up to expectations, those scripts get dusted off and, well, here we are.

Of course, there is always a nugget of something to hang onto that keeps these things alive. It’s not that there isn’t something to discuss within these conversations, it’s that they become the only argument, and it throws out all nuance and reason.

So with that, I’m going to tell you all the reasons why this notion of trading Jaylen Brown is wrong.

Before I do all that, I want to be clear that this piece isn’t an argument for or against trading anyone. Brad Stevens has a job to do, and everyone on the Celtics should be up for discussion in a trade that makes sense for the team. If Stevens saves R.C. Buford’s by giving him the Heimlich at a dinner meeting and Buford responds by offering up Victor Wembanyama in a trade for Brown or Jayson Tatum, then I’ll start editing the thank you video for either of those guys myself.

And I’m also not going to pretend that Brown isn’t frustrated by how the season ended. When Tracy McGrady says he “heard” Brown is frustrated, then I assume that came from Brown’s mouth. My guess is that Brown thought this was “his” season, and that Tatum’s return would be more of a supporting role during his rehab rather than a primary one. I think he expressed some of that frustration to his mentor and friend, and that person blabbed it on a podcast.

We’ve all complained about work, right? Does that mean we want to quit every job when we get frustrated? Even if we’re pissed off in the moment and let some emotions loose, are we really going to pack up and leave every time the boss or a co-worker pisses us off?

No. And I think that should be the basis of where we start this whole thing. Being frustrated at work doesn't always mean you’re looking for a new job, but since that's how athletes are treated, here we are.

But that's not enough for this discussion, so let’s dive into all the reasons this discourse is wrong.

1: They're trying to win

The Celtics have a limited championship window left. Brown turns 30 in October, putting him in the final third of his career. Jayson Tatum just turned 28 in March, so he’s a little more in his prime, but he only has one more full season in his 20s.

The Celtics are very much in win-now mode. So if one of these guys gets moved, it has to be for a win-now piece. And how many of those are around?

Giannis Antetokounmpo has been floated as a potential option. Donovan Mitchell’s name is going to get thrown into the mix once the Cleveland Cavaliers flame out. If the front office thinks one of those guys is better than Brown right now, then they can try. But the options are limited.

Trading Brown for “depth” isn’t going to work. They aren't going from three stars down to two. The Celtics need to walk into the 2026-27 with an actual contending team. Trading Brown for anything short of an equivalent star won’t do that.

Fans and pundits can scream “just get what you can,” but that's not how teams are built.

2. What problems are really being solved?

How many teams out there are (a) looking to trade for Brown, and (b) have the kind of star the Celtics need in return? I mentioned two. Considering the end to the Suns season, maybe they listen to Devin Booker deals.

Okay. Antetokounmpo seems like a good option, but he is starting to hit “injury prone” territory. He only played 36 games this year, which is probably low because of the extreme tanking, but it’s also not like he was on his way to a 70-game season, either. He was missing a lot of games, tanking or not.

He turns 32 in December, and while he’s obviously the best player in the deal, he might be turning a corner as far as what his body can handle.

Mitchell? Yeah, he’s a big fourth quarter guy, except in the playoffs when he gets targeted a lot. Boston would solve one problem and create another by adding a small guard who is already losing his athleticism and will also be 30 to start next season. Small guards age fast in the NBA, and the Celtics would have to cover for him a lot defensively.

Booker? What does that do?

Jaylen Brown and Devin Booker Comparison — Basketball-Reference.com

The Celtics are not in an untenable situation with Brown, even if he is frustrated with how things went. This kind of trade is a classic “change of scenery” deal, so unless Brown and Booker are both saying they're done where they are, this deal accomplishes nothing.

3. Other teams have a say

“Go get Giannis!” might sound good for a radio clip, but the Milwaukee Bucks have a say in this.

What do the Bucks want in a deal? Are they starting over and want young pieces? Are they looking to replace Antetokounmpo? Are they hoping for a bunch of pieces to flip in a trade?

Other teams have a say in how a trade goes, and getting Jaylen Brown might not be their first choice in any kind of deal, either stylistically or because of the direction of the franchise.

Teams trading a star away either want a bunch of picks and young pieces or they want an obvious number one guy. Is Brown enough of the latter for teams to feel good about a star swap?

Even if they are, it’s still not easy.

4. It’s hard to do this kind of deal in the current CBA

Booker can Brown could be traded for each other straight up because they make the exact same amount of money. Other than that, a deal will trigger a hard cap for one of the teams involved. Maybe it doesn't matter for that team, but maybe it does.

For example, trading for Donovan Mitchell would require the Cavs to send out one more player because of their cap situation. They can’t take in more money than they send out because of the new rules, so the Cavs would be trading their star AND a role player for Brown, which complicates things. Then the Celtics might have to add someone to make the trade more fair, and the more people you have to add, the more complicated it gets.

This is why multiple-team deals are becoming popular, and those are tough to pull off too because it just adds one more team and their wants and needs into the equation.

The CBA is built to send stars to bad teams that have the cap space and can absorb them without worrying about aprons and whatnot. The design is to break good teams up after a while, not allow for extended championship windows by trading stars for other good players.

5. The Celtics don’t need a big move yet

Even if Brown is getting frustrated to the point where he’s checking the hue of other pastures, the Celtics are better off finding a way to smooth things over than trying to make a huge move.

It makes more sense to just get everyone into group therapy to talk out their feelings than blow the whole thing up. Stevens basically said so on Wednesday.

“We have to use what we can to build this thing moving forward and add to it. Whatever moves that means, I have no idea,” he said. “I don't take for granted how good we've been when we've been full. When we've been full, and all on the court and playing together, we've been a good basketball team. Those are hard to get, so we just have to be better around the margins.”

A fully healthy Tatum and Brown with the right players around them is pretty good. They won a championship with that formula. If Kristaps Porzingis were healthy, the Knicks series last year might have gone differently, and who knows what happens from there.

Tatum and Brown are a pretty good combination. They do, however, need the right mix of players around them, and that's what Stevens is going to try to find this summer. That's the best course of action to give Boston a chance to win next year.

I get people’s frustrations with how this thing ended, and I get why talking heads go to extremes at times like this, but this isn’t the time to blow things up.

While this might read as some plea to keep Brown, it’s not really. If a deal for Brown, or anyone, comes up that DOES make sense, then all of this gets thrown out the window. But what doesn’t make sense is the knee-jerk, throw the baby out with the bath water attitude that has flooded the Celtics sphere lately. It’s reactionary, and unless Brown demands otherwise, the Celtics should, and will, look at other ways to build a contender next season.

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