The Boston Celtics are looking to trim their payroll, and that has apparently led to serious trade inquiries from other teams about players like Jaylen Brown.
Shams Charania was a guest on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” and talked about the Celtics. The conversation came in the context of Boston trading Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night. Charania suggested that opposing teams are being aggressive in trying to pry Brown away from Boston.
“The Celtics prefer not to trade Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. But, listen, the offers they’re getting right now — the conversations are going to be had. Does it reach the value? And that’s the question. So you’re looking at a lot of potential movement around the Celtics, and last night was just the start of that,” Charania said, referencing the Holiday trade that happened the night before.
“There are multiple teams that have significant interest in Jaylen Brown. The contract is steep — I understand it. There are teams — especially in today’s NBA — it’s an arms’ race.”
Brown just finished the first year of a 5-year, $285 million deal, so he has a ton of years and money left on his contract. If Boston wanted to completely cut their payroll, that would be a way to do it. As it stands, they’ve already shed plenty of money thanks to the Holiday deal, which saved them $46 million. Their next move may be to trade Kristaps Porzingis, and/or Payton Pritchard.
Charania previously said it would take an “insurmountable package” to get the Celtics to trade Brown.
