The Boston Celtics entered the 2025 NBA playoffs in April as the favorites not only out of the Eastern Conference, but perhaps to capture their second straight championship.
Through their first-round defeat of the Orlando Magic and much of the first two contests during their Eastern Conference semifinals series against the New York Knicks, the Celtics still looked like the team to beat.
Following a pair of crushing home losses in Games 1 and 2 vs. New York, Boston stormed back with a dominant Game 3 road win, before superstar Jayson Tatum‘s season-ending torn Achilles in Game 4 all but ended the group’s chances. After their Game 6 blowout defeat against the Knicks, the Celtics were officially eliminated and now, the franchise’s future is as murky as ever.
Tatum will likely miss all of the 2025-26 campaign, and while the rest of the roster as it stands is solid enough to make the playoffs again, they’re facing a dire financial situation.
With Tatum and Jaylen Brown signed to long-term deals, Boston is on track to become the first $500-plus million roster next season.
If President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens is looking to get the team under the second luxury tax apron this summer, some difficult moves may have to be made.
With that in mind, Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey came up with a list of seven trade ideas for “Every Realistic Boston Celtics Target” in a post published on Saturday and among them was a whopper that sends Brown to the Brooklyn Nets.
– Celtics receive: Cam Thomas (sign-and-trade), Noah Clowney, the No. 8 pick in 2025, a 2027 first-round pick (via Philadelphia) and a top-5 2031 first-round pick
– Nets receive: Jaylen Brown
Before explaining his rationale for the team possibly sending last season’s NBA Finals MVP to a divisional rival, Bailey notes that “trades involving the Celtics combining outgoing salaries are not possible without Boston first ducking the second apron. It’s currently projected to be nearly $20 million over that line.”
One of the other jaw-dropping trade proposals from the Bleacher Report scribe sees the Celtics moving big man Kristaps Porzingis to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Trade Would Make Celtics ‘Significantly Worse in the Short Term’
Even though his 22.2 points per game across 63 contests during the regular season were his lowest since the 2019-2020 campaign, and he was inconsistent in the playoffs, “JB” is a four-time All-Star for a reason. Brown’s commonly viewed as the Robin to Tatum’s Batman and added 5.8 rebounds, a career-high 4.5 assists and a team-best 1.2 steals per tilt in the regular season.
The 28-year-old inked a five-year, $288 million supermax contract extension in July 2023 and is set to make $53.1 million next season.
“A primary purpose of this move would be to push Boston’s salary under the second-apron line, which would make it possible for them to aggregate outgoing salaries in other deals. The Brooklyn Nets are a prime candidate for such a move, since they can realistically get to over $50 million in cap space this summer and absorb much of Jaylen Brown’s $53.1 million salary into that space,” Bailey wrote. “Of course, it helps to pick up multiple first-round picks, too. And getting Brown in his prime would be worth that (though the Brooklyn Nets might insist on more protections). He’d be a building block-level talent for a Nets team that could be desperate to have one after failing to secure a top-four pick in the lottery. And his fit alongside Cameron Johnson’s outside shooting and Nicolas Claxton’s rim running isn’t hard to imagine.”
Even if Boston doesn’t pull the trigger on their potential biggest-ticket item in Brown, reports have indicated that the team could send off other notable names, like Porzingis, Derrick White and/or Jrue Holiday. Each of those players are also mentioned in Bailey’s article.
Giving up Brown Would be About the ‘Savings’
With probably no Tatum next season, a trade of Brown would potentially take the Celtics from playoff contender to a possible play-in team, at best.
“For the Celtics, of course, this makes the team significantly worse in the short term. Cam Thomas probably wouldn’t even finish in Boston whatever contract he’d sign to make this happen. Noah Clowney’s at least a flier for the frontcourt,” Bailey wrote. “What this is really about, again, is the savings. Brown is set to make nearly $65 million in 2028-29. Getting out of that deal, picking up multiple firsts and getting out of the dreaded second-apron territory are valuable things. Of course, some other organization could very easily beat this package in terms of players and picks (without the help with the apron). And that might force Brooklyn to up the ante a bit with more draft capital or young talent. But the philosophy is sound.”
Noah Clowney has been limited to just 69 games (24 starts) over his first two NBA seasons. The former 21st overall pick’s final contest of the 2024-25 campaign came on March 29, before he was shut down due to a right ankle sprain. Clowney averaged 9.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 22.7 minutes per game across 46 tilts (20 starts) this past season and shot an atrocious 35.8% from the field.
Cam Thomas was perhaps on his way to his best season during the 2024-25 campaign but a chronic hamstring injury limited him to only 25 contests. The high-scoring shooting guard was leading the team this season in points per game (career-best 24.0) and averaged career highs in assists (3.8) and rebounds (3.3) as well before suffering a season-ending hamstring strain in mid-March.
The Nets have also been reported to be in the running for Giannis Antetokounmpo, should the Milwaukee Bucks trade the two-time MVP this summer. If Brooklyn were to land “The Greek Freak,” that would in all likelihood eliminate Brown as a potential acquisition.
