The Celtics struck out in their pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo, leaving them in an uncomfortable spot with one of their franchise pillars.<\/p>\n
According to multiple reports, Boston offered a package of Jaylen Brown and multiple unprotected first-round draft picks to Milwaukee for Antetokounmpo. That bid failed, with the Bucks instead choosing to send the two-time NBA MVP to Miami<\/a> for a return that included four players (Tyler Herro, Kel\u2019el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakucionis), four draft picks and one pick swap.<\/p>\n How Brown responds to his team\u2019s failed courtship of Antetokounmpo \u2014 which ESPN insiders described as \u201caggressive\u201d and \u201call-in\u201d<\/a> \u2014 could shape the future of the Celtics organization.<\/p>\n Will he understand Boston\u2019s willingness to trade him for a player of that caliber and move forward with no ill will toward the franchise? Or will he view the proposal \u2014 after a season in which he posted career-best numbers, finished sixth in MVP voting and served as the Celtics\u2019 unquestioned leader<\/a> while Jayson Tatum recovered from Achilles surgery \u2014 as a sign of disrespect and ask to be moved elsewhere?<\/p>\n It was not the first time the Celtics dangled Brown in a trade for a superstar. In 2022, he was part of their offer to Brooklyn for Kevin Durant. That, however, was before Brown helped lead Boston to a championship, took home NBA Finals MVP and carried the Celtics through Tatum\u2019s 10-month absence.<\/p>\n Brown was excellent this season, posting a stat line (28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists per game) matched in Celtics history only by Larry Bird and John Havlicek. He made second-team All-NBA (missing out on the first team by one spot), was the league\u2019s fourth-leading scorer and relished his role as the headliner of an underdog roster that far exceeded expectations before stalling out in the first round<\/a> of the playoffs.<\/p>\n \u201cI did all of that, and you still try to trade me?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear whether Brown, Boston\u2019s longest-tenured player, feels that way. But it wouldn\u2019t be an unreasonable sentiment. Remember, mentor Tracy McGrady relayed last month that Brown was deeply frustrated with the Celtics<\/a> \u2014 comments the Basketball Hall of Famer later tried to walk back \u2014 and that was before the Antetokounmpo trade winds began swirling.<\/p>\n The focus now shifts to whether the Celtics will move Brown in a non-Giannis-related deal. ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania reported late Monday night that Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens \u201chas not actively shopped Brown in trade talks,\u201d but colleague Brian Windhorst said Tuesday morning he anticipated a \u201cbidding war\u201d for the 29-year-old five-time All-Star.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the most recent days, teams have been preparing for this eventuality \u2014 that it wouldn\u2019t be the Boston Celtics who won the Giannis sweepstakes; that there would be a Jaylen Brown market,\u201d Windhorst said on ESPN\u2019s \u201cGet Up.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re now going to watch that. I think it\u2019s going to take some time to play out, but if there is a draft pick involved, it could happen (before or during the 2026 NBA Draft, which begins Tuesday night). I don\u2019t think that\u2019s likely, but it could happen today.\u201d<\/p>\n One team to watch on that front is New Orleans, as Pelicans wing Trey Murphy III has been rumored as a potential fallback target<\/a> for the Celtics if they were unable to land Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n Murphy is not nearly as accomplished as Brown, but he is younger (just turned 26), has a manageable contract (signed for three more years with a $27 million salary for 2026-27) and posted solid numbers on a series of dreadful Pelicans teams (21.5 points per game, 37.9% 3-point shooting this season). Teammates Herb Jones and Dejounte Murray also could entice Boston in a potential package for Brown.<\/p>\n Teams reported to have interest in acquiring Brown include the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets and his hometown Atlanta Hawks.<\/p>\n The Celtics also could keep their Tatum\/Brown core \u2014 the duo that\u2019s guided them to five Eastern Conference finals, two NBA Finals and one title \u2014 intact and make other, less seismic moves to improve their roster. Bolstering their frontcourt is a must after that unit struggled in the first-round loss to Philadelphia, and Stevens said he wants to add players who can \u201chave more of an impact at the rim\u201d<\/a> (a box Antetokounmpo would have emphatically checked).<\/p>\n But those plans will hinge, at least partially, on Brown\u2019s willingness to remain committed to a team that just tried to offload him. Brown has three years remaining on the supermax contract he signed in 2023, and he will become eligible next month for an extension that would pay him close to $70 million annually in his age-34 and 35 seasons.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the people that\u2019s doubting me,\u201d Brown said in a Twitch stream Monday afternoon, before the Antetokounmpo trade agreement was reported, \u201cthat want me to do this, or want me gone, or whatever, you\u2019re turning me into a monster.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Celtics struck out in their pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo, leaving them in an uncomfortable spot with one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2242,13034,310425,359,308636,310424,310423,29175,310426,8173,355,32803,99],"class_list":["post-721409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-boston-celtics","tag-celtics","tag-celtics-rumors","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo-celtics","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo-heat","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo-trade","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-jaylen-brown-giannis","tag-miami-heat","tag-nba","tag-nba-trade-rumors","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}