The Boston Celtics reportedly still think they can reconcile with Jaylen Brown after dangling him in trade talks for Giannis Antetokounmpo, according to Jake Fischer and Marc Stein of The Stein Line. And if that's the case, that is the best-case scenario for Boston.
"The Boston Celtics do not believe they will be forced to trade Jaylen Brown this offseason after previously offering him to the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Sources tell The Stein Line that the Celtics view a reconciliation with Brown as a plausible scenario."
"However, rival teams are convinced that the Celtics won't be able to retain Brown going into next season and that they will ultimately need to choose a trade."
Even though Stein and Fischer are also reporting that rival teams think a trade is inevitable, I'm going to err on the side of believing the team/sources directly involved in the discussion. It ultimately remains to be seen what actually comes of this, and with the five-time All-Star eligible for a contract extension in July, we might get our answer sooner rather than later.
But it seems like there's still a world where Brown remains with the Celtics past this summer, which should be exactly what fans want to hear.
Celtics shouldn't trade Jaylen Brown unless absolutely necessary
If Brown requests a trade or makes it clear he's not going to sign another contract with the Celtics, then it makes sense for the team to move on from him. But it doesn't seem like that's where things stand at the moment.
A lot of fans were hopeful for Boston to trade Brown for Antetokounmpo, and I somewhat understand it. "The Greek Freak" would have been the best player to pair with a prime Jayson Tatum, and he also would have raised the team's short-term ceiling.
But it also seems like people are forgetting that Brown a) doesn't have much of an injury history, unlike Antetokounmpo, b) has probably five or six good years of basketball left, and c) won the NBA Finals MVP award two years ago.
It's not like the Brown-Tatum duo has completely underachieved, and now the Celtics need to make a big move to break them up to potentially get over the hump. We know they can win a championship together because they just did it. The answer isn't to break them up -- it's to optimize the rest of the rostr around them.
Teams around the league would love to have just one elite, two-way wing in the midst of his prime with championship experience. The Celtics have two. So splitting up the Jays, much to the chagrin of those who listen to Boston sports radio and spend too much time on social, shouldn't even kind of be an option. And if the Celtics can make things right with Brown, they absolutely need to do whatever it takes to make that happen.
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