Even at this shockingly low price, Atlanta was right to avoid a Jaylen Brown trade

The NBA offseason has seen several big moves and landscape shifting trades, including yesterday's shocking move by the Boston Celtics to trade forward Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia for Paul George and two first round picks. After reports of the Celtics wanting blue chip talent along with 3-4 draft picks, it was surprising that Boston decided to make this deal and move a player who bad been with Boston since 2016, won the 2024 Finals MVP, and was 6th in MVP this past season.

While the Hawks have maintained that they are going to continue building their team organically and with internal development, they were consistently mentioned as a potential Brown suitor, though it did not make a lot of sense from a team-building perspective. The thought was that Brown would be so expensive that it would severely limit their ability to build their team for the future.

Even though the price for Brown was not as prohibitive as initially though, the Hawks were right to not make a big move to bring the Atlanta native back home.

Why the Hawks made the right move

Jaylen Brown Boston Celtic — Apr 30, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) drives against Philadelphia 76ers guard Kelly Oubre Jr. (9) during the second quarter at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

I am skeptical that the Hawks were ever really involved in any serious discussions for Brown, but even at this price, Atlanta was not likely to make an offer that would have been as acceptable as George, as Atlanta does not have a high-salary player of that caliber that they would be willing to move and it would have been some combination of Buddy Hield, Corey Kispert, Zaccharie Risacher, and perhaps a sign-and-trade involving Jonathan Kuminga, plus draft picks.

The reality is that the Hawks, as Onsi Saleh has said numerous times this offseason, Atlanta is not one player away and even if they did not have to give away any of their "core four" of Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, and Onyeka Okongwu, adding Brown to that group was not going to put the Hawks in the same tier as the Knicks, Spurs, or Thunder, the favorites to win the title next season.

I think a fair observation though after a frenzied start to NBA free agency is that the Eastern Conference has gotten much better and if someone wanted to make the point that the Hawks should have paid a low price for Brown, just to make sure they did not fall too far behind this season, I would still argue the Hawks did the right thing, but would acknowledge Atlanta could very well fall back into the play-in tournament.

The Knicks are the defending champs and while losing Mitchell Robinson (to Boston nonetheless) is going to sting, New York will be the Eastern Conference favorite next season. The Celtics will still be a good (but worse) team, Toronto added Kawhi Leonard, Miami traded for Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brown is now in Philadelphia, and the Indiana Pacers will be adding Tyrese Haliburton back to their team, along with Ivica Zubac.

Atlanta has prioritized retaining their own free agents, making three draft picks, and adding around the margins, with trades for Aaron Wiggins and Devin Carter.

Atlanta is going to be the forgotten team in the Eastern Conference next season, but that does not mean they have become a worse team. With the right leaps from their star players and better bench play, the Hawks will be in the mix for the top six.

There will be some frustration at the lack of major moves made so far by Atlanta, but they are going about this the right way and even though they did not bring a homegrown star home at a discount price, the Hawks were right to avoid that move.

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