Brad Stevens Seemingly Shuts Down Jaylen Brown, Derrick White Trade Rumors

After making a pair of blockbuster trades before the 2025 NBA Draft, it seemed like Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics could be busy once again during the first round of the draft on Wednesday night. That’s because, after trading Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, trade rumors were swirling around Jaylen Brown and Derrick White.

Entering the offseason, it was pretty clear that the Celtics were going to make some serious changes to their roster. The extent of those changes, though, was unknown. Holiday and Porzingis were expected trade targets, but Brown and White were not.

Ahead of the draft, several teams were making hard pushes for both Brown and White. While Stevens wasn’t actively shopping either player, he was leaving the door open for a team to blow him away with a mind-boggling offer.

Ultimately, neither Brown nor White got dealt, and the only move the Celtics made saw them select Spanish guard Hugo Gonzalez with the No. 28 overall pick of the draft. It is worth wondering, though, whether another big trade is lurking in Boston’s future.

If that does happen, though, it appears as if it won’t involve Brown or White. When speaking after the first round of the draft, Stevens referred to both guys as part of Boston’s “foundation,” which would seemingly confirm them as part of the team’s future.

“We’ve got a good group,” Stevens said when speaking to reporters. “We’ve got the foundation, obviously with Jaylen and Jayson and D-White and Payton and all those guys that a lot of teams would love to have.”

With Tatum expected to miss most, if not all, of the 2025-26 campaign while working his way back to full health, Brown and White are going to be tasked with taking on a bigger role for the Celtics next season, especially now that Holiday and Porzingis are gone.

It seems like Boston’s offseason work is only getting started, but a closer look at Stevens’ comments indicates that Brown and White aren’t going anywhere, which will surely make fans happy after they watched two of their most beloved players depart earlier this week.