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Brown is one of the highest paid players in the league with three years left on his deal.
They clearly didn't want to sign a player with age or injury history matching money they'd have to extend like Giannis. So that rules out a decent number of options.
They probably wanted to do some sort of deal for multiple players... but given how much Brown makes, what sort of deal is that? I'd heard the Portland rumors, but Portland didn't really have a deal-- certainly not one that included any picks whatsoever. Like, do we really think Portland deals Jerami Grant, Shaedon Sharpe, and Clingan? I don't think so.
Also, goes without saying, but people knew JB was malcontent with the Celtics. Is that relegated only to his current team, or will he see himself as The Guy wherever he goes? Clearly Boston doesn't think highly of his ability to deliver elsewhere, or they wouldn't have traded him to the Sixers of all teams. The reported Edgecombe deal sounds more fair if solely factoring in Brown's output over the past couple years... but the fact that they went *that far down* from their original desired deal kinda says a lot about the trade market for Brown imo!
So you're looking for a deal for probably one player (or mostly one player) and picks-- and given the Celtics have been better per On/Off numbers in minutes without Brown for four straight seasons (on/off is a noisy stat, but four straight seasons is, uh, a big sample to completely ignore), you're unlikely to get a present star or a player without some degree of baggage. Would I have tried to figure out a Giannis deal? Sure. But again, Giannis would demand a 3 year, ~220 or whatever type of extension. Given Giannis's age and recent injury history, I get why the Celtics balked.
I'd be interested in hearing what sort of deal people think Boston could've made for Brown where the money works. It's obviously not a great deal... but given things had become untenable and the sheer amount of money Brown is owed for the next three years, I think it's reeeeeeally tough to find an obvious deal.
Plus, I don't really hear anyone saying this... but if PG doesn't work out as a third option or whatever, the following offseason, he's a monster expiring deal that's easily imo more tradeable than Brown with multiple years left. So you're really only worrying about next season if you're the Celtics-- and given last season they were a 2 seed basically without Tatum, and this year they'll have Tatum without Brown, but they'll add PG and Mitch? I obviously wouldn't put them much higher than, like, 4th in the NBA preseason, but that expiring contract next year theoretically gives them a lot of flexibility for sign-and-trades for some of those free agents, not to mention whichever star might become malcontent in the coming several months (Jokic?).
So I get the fan reaction... buuuuuuut I just haven't heard an alternative trade yet where I realistically think both teams say yet. Just really hard with these supermax players to get a true return on talent given how restrictive the money they're paid makes your books. More Christmas movies coming in 2025...
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