It seems like the Boston Celtics are actual players in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade sweepstakes after all. So much so, in fact, that The Ringer's Bill Simmons even said Boston made a trade offer for the two-time MVP, and he expects the team to land him (normally, Simmons' comments on their own wouldn't hold this much merit, but Marc Stein of The Stein Line co-signed, meaning there might actually be something to this).
"From what I heard, they made an offer in the past week, a couple days before I mentioned it on Thursday," Simmons said on his podcast.
"I think Boston's going to get Giannis, and I think it will happen in the next week."
This might be an exciting development for some. Antetokounmpo is still one of the best players in the league, and he would greatly elevate Boston's standing in the Eastern Conference and the title picture. Plus, trading for him would prevent other teams like the Miami Heat or New York Knicks (assuming they're still in on him even after they just won the championship)
But not to me. I think this would be a huge mistake for the Celtics, because it's pretty obvious that making this trade would inevitably involve moving on from Jaylen Brown. And is it a wise move to split up a championship-winning duo in the midst of their primes for a beat-up and aging Antetokounmpo?
Absolutely not.
The Celtics shouldn't trade Jaylen Brown for Giannis Antetokounmpo
I see the appeal of Antetokounmpo in Boston, and I'll be the first one to say the Celtics need to make some big-time moves this offseason. But they should be looking to support their core (the Jays + Derrick White), not break it up.
Trading for the Milwaukee Bucks star is an incredibly risky move not worth taking. He's turning 32 years old in December, is eligible for a four-year, $275 contract extension in October, can't shoot, relies too much on his athleticism (which will only get worse from here on out), and has growing injury concerns. He played in just 36 games last season, and he missed Milwaukee's first-round playoff loss in 2024 due to a calf injury.
When healthy, Antetokounmpo is still a top-five player in the NBA. He is still an elite defender and a great rebounder, playmaker, and inside-the-arc scorer. But he also only has maybe two or three years of superstar play left in him.
Brown, meanwhile, still has at least five or six more years of good basketball left, and trading him for "the Greek Freak" would drastically shift the Celtics' long-term championship window negatively.
Is he better than Antetokounmpo? No. And it's important to remember that he is also eligible for a big contract extension this offseason (around two years, $142 million) that may be too expensive. However, Brown has already won a championship in Boston (won the finals MVP award in 2024 and was arguably its best player in the 2022 finals, too).
We don't have any questions about whether he and Tatum can win a title together. We already know they can. So the move this offseason shouldn't be to make some big splash that you are almost guaranteed to regret down the line. The move is to fill in the margins and optimize the roster around them, which an Antetokounmpo trade would not do... at all.
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