The Boston Celtics made it clear that Jaylen Brown was expendable if it meant getting Giannis Antetokounmpo. Then they didn’t get the Greek Freak, who is now bound for South Beach after the Miami Heat executed a blockbuster trade. Understandably, Brown is not enjoying the situation as he now knows exactly where he stands with the Celtics franchise.
The whole thing has gotten messy. Brown has been very active online and made eyebrow-raising comments on live streams. He’s publicly liking comments that suggest he should be traded to an organization that respects him.
Boston is reportedly aggressively shopping him around. ESPN’s Shams Charania said that the Celtics are countering offers from 8-10 teams. To this point the proposed deals are not to Boston’s liking.
Comments on Jaylen Brown
Furthermore, there’s been a deluge of concern-trolling about Brown not being an elite player. A front office analytics person said Brown would be the seventh-best player on a team. His on-off stats are being posted in the town square for discussion. In short, there’s been a significant movement to discount what he does on the court.
Which is weird considering Brown is among the rarest of rare players to have captured an NBA Finals MVP.
Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor attempted to get to the bottom of what’s going on here and emerged with a theory.
“All I know is that the whole Jaylen Brown situation with basically every media member poo-pooing on Jaylen Brown out there right now,” he said. “Every executive I talk to pooing on Jaylen Brown right now, it feels very coordinated to me. It all does, to try to drive the price down on a guy who just had an unbelievable regular season. Sixth in MVP voting, dragged a roster without Jayson Tatum to 56 wins, the two seed in the East, is a former Finals MVP, has gotten better every season of his career … I don’t really buy that these teams don’t want Jaylen Brown.”
What will happen with Jaylen Brown?
Now, that is precisely what is happening. It happens every time there’s a huge piece on the market. No team wants to overpay or give up too much. So they play it cool with their messaging that they could take or leave the prospect of adding an elite player to their roster. It is never very believable but that’s the way the game is played. Honestly, it would be a dereliction of a front office person’s duties if they weren’t engaging in this type of warfare.
Coordinated, tough? That might be a bridge too far. Yes, getting Brown for a song is going to benefit one specific team if a deal is reached. That does precious little for the other franchises who want him. And based on Shams’ reporting, that’s like a third of the league. So if this is situation of the league working in concert, most of the participants are going to have nothing to show for participating in a group project.
Also, and I am admittedly not the brightest person in the world, how would this work? Boston knows what they have in Brown better than anyone. They are smart enough to sniff out a multi-pronged attack on their key asset. It does not seem like they would be swayed by the sudden shift in the court of public opinion, especially since, as O’Connor points out, it does seem to be a bit Astroturfed.
They could also simply mend fences and go forward with Brown and a healthy Tatum next season. Feelings are raw right now but finding a way for everyone to co-exist would mean they would once again be NBA title contenders. That is a far superior situation—if believed to be manageable—than making a bad deal just to move on from Brown.
So maybe there’s a masterplan at work here and some team is going to steal away Brown for peanuts. Or perhaps that plan is so transparent the Celtics won’t notice it, let alone care.
