By most accounts, the Boston Celtics have been trying to trade star forward Jaylen Brown this offseason, perhaps even before the Celtics unsuccessful attempt to trade for (then) Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. We are also hearing that Brown is understandably unhappy about this state of affairs, and wants to be part of a new ball club given how he feels about being dangled in trades after an MVP-caliber campaign with Boston last season.
So what is the hold-up, given this apparent concordance between Boston and Brown about his future with the Celtics? It may be due to the fact that Boston President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens and company are asking for a haul for the Cal alum’s services – four, perhaps five first round draft picks plus players to keep them in the contention mix – in any scenario where they would part with the 2016 No. 3 pick of the draft.
Per ESPN senior reporter Shams Charania on a recent episode of “SportsCenter”, the “conversation hasn’t been about Jaylen Brown’s game” when it comes to this apparent lack of interest in dealing for Brown in the range of assets Boston hopes to get back.
“Everyone knows Jaylen Brown is an elite player, but you combine the contract that he’s on, he’s got three years left on his supermax clip and where we’re at in the offseason right now, what you’re seeing is a price variance based on the player he is and the contract he’s at and the assets that are available,” said Charania.
“There’s a stark variance among those three categories,” he adds, and that may well explain why no deal has yet been done. It may also be that Boston knows the player they have under contract is likely more valuable to them than anything they will get via trade at the present, and have asked for it nonetheless.
Can the front office massage all this chaos into a functioning team by Opening Night? Whether or not Brown is on that roster, Stevens et al. have their work cut out for them – especially if this is not a case of ball clubs negotiating through the media for an attempt at a lower cost deal.
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Shams: Contract length, size, picks ask barriers to Boston Celtics Jaylen Brown trade
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