The future of Jaylen Brown is no clearer now than it was before the team tried and failed to involve him in a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported Tuesday that NBA teams plan to test the Boston Celtics’ resolve by making trade offers for Brown. Windhorst added that the Celtics could still trade Brown if the offer is good enough.
“Boston is in a situation where they have put Jaylen Brown out there for the whole world,” Windhorst said. “They knew it was possible they were going to lose to Miami. Now what I expect to happen is a bidding war for Jaylen Brown among other teams in the league. In the most recent days, teams have been preparing for this eventuality. I think it’ll take some time to play out, but if there is a draft pick involved, it could happen today. I don’t think that’s likely, but it could happen today.”
Teams are now preparing to send offers for Jaylen Brown after Celtics strikes out on Giannis,
— Heat Central (@HeatCulture13) June 23, 2026
Per @WindhorstESPN
“What I expect to happen, is a bidding war for Jaylen Brown. In the most recent days, teams have been preparing for this eventuality… I think it’ll take time to… pic.twitter.com/hPJtE7bi14
In other words, it sounds likely that Brown will still be traded, even if it was not for Antetokounmpo. It was abundantly clear that the Celtics were willing to insert him in a trade with Milwaukee, and there was a risk it would irrevocably burn some bridges with the former NBA Finals MVP.
Not much has been revealed about Brown’s possible market, since all the focus was on whether he would wind up with the Bucks or not. One team has been named as a possibility, but if there is actually a bidding war, this could take a while to resolve.
