The Celtics' Price For Jaylen Brown Seems Really High, So What If It's Not Matched?

Every day brings something new in the Jaylen Brown saga. We know things can change in an instant, but the train that sends Brown out of Boston seems to be flying down the tracks.

And if the Boston Celtics do actually trade Brown, as it seems they are very much trying to, it won’t be to bring back spare parts.

We can start with the line in the sand the Celtics drew in the Giannis Antetokounmpo talks. The Bucks wanted Brown, some young players, and a bunch of picks, but the Celtics stopped at Brown plus two first-rounders. Stevens clearly didn’t feel the need to cave to Milwaukee’s demands, even though the perception after the deal was that Brown would HAVE to be traded because of this very public pursuit.

Now comes the aftermath of that, where Boston is still clearly discussing a Brown trade.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Friday that Boston has asked some teams for “at least four first-round picks” in exchange for Brown, which is a steep asking price.

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

Per: @ShamsCharania pic.twitter.com/EP87y9x2wn
— Savage (@Savageboston) June 26, 2026

That doesn’t seem like the price of entry, necessarily, as much as it shows how much Boston values Brown. There may be some negotiating wiggle room there, but Boston isn’t going to let teams off the hook when it comes to draft capital in a Brown trade.

Charania also reported that “the majority of the conversations” have been with Western Conference teams. One of those teams was reportedly the Minnesota Timberwolves, who just traded Naz Reid, an unprotected first-round pick, three first-round swaps, and three second-rounders, for LaMelo Ball and Josh Green.

Before that trade was made, the Wolves were reportedly discussing a deal for Brown, but it came at a much higher cost according to Jon Krawczynski of the Athletic.

“It was really made clear to them, understandably so, that it’s going to take a lot more than this package,” he said on the The Zach Lowe podcast. “It was going to take Rudy [Gobert], Naz, a young player like Terrence Shannon Jr. or Joan Beringer, and all of the pick stuff that they sent [to Charlotte]”

That's a blockbuster ask from Stevens. So where does that leave us with Brown?

Interestingly, Brown has barely made a peep about this mess. He acknowledged the rumors once just to say he’s finding motivation in comments that agree with trading him, but aside from that, we have barely seen a hint of negativity from him during this process. That's curious because one of Brown’s signature traits is expressing dissatisfaction when he feels disrespect.

It lends credence to Brown being on board with the process, at least to some degree. At best, he understands what the Celtics are trying to do and isn’t going to make waves if he can get his own team out of it. At worst, he flat-out requested a trade and the Celtics are just good at keeping that part a secret.

But the Celtics are operating as if they have all the leverage, which wouldn’t be the case in the event of a trade request. If Boston really felt the need to trade Brown, then one could argue that including Baylor Scheierman or Hugo Gonzalez to grease those skids would make sense. If Stevens felt that Brown being around would be harmful to the team, then he might loosen up a little in negotiations.

Asking some teams for four first-rounders, or asking the Timberwolves for Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, a young player, AND picks, screams “we don’t have to do this, so if you want him, you have to pay up.”

And of course, Brown is under contract for three more seasons, so even if Brown’s camp exerts some pressure to move him, he doesn’t have much recourse if they don’t. He has to report to camp and he has to play. Stevens can take a page out of the Danny Ainge playbook and just live with an uncomfortable situation, banking on the professionalism of all involved to get over it and perform.

That might not be realistic, but Stevens isn’t going to start bargaining from a position of weakness, so he has to at least project this level of confidence long enough for people to believe him.

He also needs bidders to actually start one-upping each other.

Sensitive trades like this are best executed away from the cameras, so it might be best to look at the teams Boston has dealt with quietly in the past, like Charlotte, Portland, and Oklahoma City.

The Portland Trail Blazers, mentioned as a hypothetical by Sharania, would serve the purpose of getting picks and players while moving Brown as far away as possible. What a package would look like is another story entirely. Charlotte could use a number one guy, so maybe the Celtics can call them and Minnesota to see if the deal could be re-worked into a three-teamer. OKC is really expensive, so maybe the Celtics can help alleviate that with a lopsided deal.

There is a scary, long shot option in Detroit, where Jalen Duren, a 22-year-old who had an All-NBA and All-Star season before cratering in the playoffs, is not happy with how his contract negotiations are going in Detroit. He’s apparently looking to explore sign-and-trade options, even though word out of Detroit seems to be that they don’t want to oblige.

Besides, two division rivals trading All-NBA players for each other would be a shocking development, even though we can make some sense out of the deal.

Whichever teams are in on the bidding doesn’t matter. Stevens just needs at least two to get somewhere near his seemingly high asking price. If he doesn’t?

This is the million dollar question.

No one goes into negotiations starting at their asking price, so Stevens will undoubtedly come down from his perch at some point. However, every good negotiator has his “walk away” number, too. Stevens has shown that to us once before, but how many more of those does he have in him?

A lot of people assume certain things have to happen, and a lot of those assumptions may ultimately be correct, but Stevens doesn’t seem to be operating like a guy who is stuck, even if he might be. And Brown isn’t acting like a guy who wants out, even if he does.

To put this in a Seinfeldian way, the Celtics were looking to improve on the margins seven weeks ago … yada, yada, yada … Jaylen Brown is in every trade rumor and seems as good as gone.

What are the Celtics yada yada’ing? If we can figure that out, then the rest of these answers will fall into place.

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