Jaylen Brown seemingly has heard his name pop up in NBA trade rumors ever since he put on a Celtics uniform back in 2016.
But Boston's willingness to actually move the star guard is a different story.
According to Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer, the Celtics didn't float Brown to the San Antonio Spurs when they made a run at Kawhi Leonard back in 2018. Boston appeared to be in the mix for Anthony Davis a year later, but the C's only "internally deliberated" including Brown in a haul to send to New Orleans, per Fischer.
It wasn't until this past season when the Celtics were flirting with disaster that the organization truly began considering the value of moving off of Brown.
"When Boston stumbled to 23-24 in January, team personnel only began to consider the possible returns from parting with Brown this offseason, sources said, to better optimize the Celtics' contending window starring Jayson Tatum," Fischer wrote in a column published Tuesday. "The Celtics did not seriously entertain any inquiries for Brown ahead of the February trade deadline, sources said."
The C's probably were assessing a potential Brown trade from a general viewpoint at that January juncture. Ideas appear to have come more into focus since the turn of the new league year, as Boston reportedly is willing to include Brown in a trade package to acquire Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets.
Of course, Brown shouldn't feel slighted by his inclusion in the reported trade offer. The 25-year-old is turning into one of the NBA's better two-way players and as the Celtics look ahead, they might not feel confident in their chances to re-sign him in two years.
