Jaylen Brown has dominated NBA headlines since Monday morning, to no fault of his own.
The Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets reportedly were involved in trade talks for Kevin Durant. Brooklyn reportedly turned down Boston’s offer of Brown, Derrick White and a draft pick and countered with a bigger package that included Brown, Marcus Smart and several draft picks.
Reports suggest these talks are not new and there are no active discussions between the Celtics and the Nets. Still, Brown has heard his name tossed around in trade rumors since arriving in Boston in 2016, so no one would be surprised if his ominous tweet was about the C’s.
Brown isn’t a free agent until 2024, so if he doesn’t get traded he’ll be donning a Celtics uniform until then. But according to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, it is widely believed Brown will test the open market when the time comes.
“I’d expect most of this leaking has come from either Durant’s camp or from Brooklyn, since Boston would have no reason to agitate Brown, who folks around the NBA have long suspected will test free agency in 2024,” O’Connor wrote in a piece published Monday.
It’s really not far-fetched. Maybe Brown will want to see what kind of offers he can garner if he and the Celtics don’t come to terms on an extension.
However, The Athletic’s Jared Weiss on Tuesday reported that Brown wants to stay in Boston despite all the trade talks happening.
Only time will tell, of course, but this certainly has become quite the storyline since Monday.
