Brad Stevens is trying to slow down the rumor mill. Good luck with that.
In the wake of Jaylen Brown being put in a trade offer for Giannis Antetokounmpo, rumors have been flying around the league that Boston is listening to trade offers for Brown. Tuesday night, after the first round of the draft, Stevens, Boston’s president of basketball operations, said that he has had multiple meetings with Brown this summer and that Brown is “a big part of us.” Here are his quotes, via Ben Golliver of ESPN.
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“Jaylen Brown is a big part of us,” Stevens said. “I’m never going to predict the future. Every indication, everything I think about, over the last few years, has been building around those guys [Brown and Jayson Tatum]. You never know. But at the same time, the one thing I want to make very clear is how valued he’s always been. He’s been amazing. He’s been an amazing teammate and a great person to be around…
“With all the rumor mill and all that stuff, and his name being splashed all over the place, that’s not easy. We certainly wanted to be as proactive and up-front with that as possible. I thought we had really good, candid conversations… There’s always gonna have to be get-togethers, there’s always gonna have to be things that you talk about.”
Stevens may be trying to throw cold water on things, but other teams are preparing for a bidding war for Brown, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Tuesday.
There would be real demand for Brown, who is coming off the best season of his career, where he averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game and was sixth in MVP voting. Houston and Atlanta are two teams often mentioned.
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The challenge in trading Brown is matching his $57.1 million salary — he has three years and about $183 million left on his contract. Not every team can or will want to take that on.
This may ultimately come down to what Brown wants, how he feels after having his best — and in his words, “favorite” — season, then finding himself in trade talks. There are a lot of rumors that he wants a fresh start, but does he want that more than to chase another ring with Tatum?
We’ll find out in the coming weeks whether this was just a speed bump in Brown’s relationship with Boston or if things are about to take a sharp turn.
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