Boston Celtics rumors: Time to pair Karl-Anthony Towns with Jayson Tatum

Hey Brad Stevens, if you want to shake up the Boston Celtics and send shockwaves through the NBA, it’s time to pick up the phone, call the Minnesota Timberwolves and get Karl-Anthony Towns by any means necessary.

By any means necessary, that means giving up anything not named Jayson Tatum…including Jaylen Brown.

As awesome as it would be to build a championship contending team around Tatum and Brown, let’s be real…the process in Boston exploded the very night Gordon Hayward went down with a freak leg injury just five minutes into that 2017-2018 NBA season.

Boston Celtics past success is morphing into their biggest failure

Yes, it was the same season a Celtics team without Hayward and Kyrie Irving found themselves just minutes away from making the NBA Finals led by the young duo of Tatum and Brown.  Perhaps it was Hayward’s injury that hastened the growth of Tatum and Brown, but that early success seems to be biting this franchise in the (you know what) three and a half mediocre seasons later.

Tatum, who has become the center of frustration with most Boston Celtics fans, admitted following the team’s latest collapse against the New York Knicks that he for one took those trips to the Eastern Conference Finals early in his career for granted.

"“I think early on, probably my rookie year, I thought that was just normal.  Winning all those games, winning games in the playoffs. Probably taking it for granted a little bit,” Tatum told reporters, as transcribed by WEEI.  “Enjoy those moments.  Stuff like this happens and I think it makes you appreciate times like that even more.  Just knowing how hard it is to win in this league.”"

Tatum and the Boston Celtics have been learning that the hard way over the past few seasons.  While they have watched veteran stars like Hayward, Irving and Kemba Walker walk through that door and then out that door, the hope for the now and tomorrow centers around the two young All Stars who are now struggling to make the players around them better.

The Boston Celtics must shake it up and land Karl-Anthony Towns

So, maybe it is time to suck it up Celtics fans, the problem and reason for underachieving consistency of this team is that the duo of Tatum and Brown just doesn’t work because they are two wing players who haven’t learned how to play off one another.

As much as breaking up the promise of these two thoroughbreds may hurt Stevens, packaging a deal centered around Brown to obtain a Karl-Anthony Towns may be the saving grace of these franchise just like it was back in 2008 when the Celtics struck a deal to pair Kevin Garnett with Paul Pierce.

While the dream big three would be Tatum, Brown and Townes, there is no way Boston has a package to pull off a blockbuster like that without trading two of their young stars and it would be worth it.

Towns has been frustrated in Minnesota.  He is a versatile big man with a mean streak who could dominate the East and make Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid work for his status.

With that inside-out presence on the court, Tatum’s game would also leap to another level.  Not only would the presence of Towns open his offense, but it would also inspire him to be more of a playmaker as well, an area of Tatum’s game that could propel him to superstardom.

And yes, back in 2008 Pierce and Garnett had Ray Allen rounding out their big three.  Could the Boston Celtics find a similar veteran star to joining forces with a young duo of Towns and Tatum?

They could then wait for the offseason to try to sign Bradley Beal to the mix or perhaps an aging star like Russell Westbrook would be formula the Celtics should explore as far as capturing their next big three.  Unfortunately, it will take trading Jaylen Brown to get the ball rolling unless Brad Stevens can maneuver something even more earth shattering.