Somewhere in a war room at Chase Center, someone looked at Jaylen Brown’s name on a trade sheet and said no thanks. A 29-year-old Finals MVP, a two-way wing who just averaged career highs across the board, and the front office that’s supposed to be building Steph Curry’s last great chapter took a pass. FASCINATING.
According to Logan Murdock, the front office wasn’t sold that Brown could be the guy to carry this franchise once Steph rides off into the sunset. Shams Charania backed that up, reporting the price tag sat somewhere around four first-round picks, and the Warriors and Celtics did talk, but Golden State walked away from the table.
And here’s the part that may raise your eyebrows up to the back of your neck if you’ve been riding with Dub Nation: Boston still moved him, just not to Golden State. The Celtics flipped Brown to Philadelphia for Paul George and four total picks, two first-rounders and two seconds. Brad Stevens got a return that, by most measures, was worse than what the Clippers got for an oft-injured Kawhi under investigation for cap shenanigans. Somebody was going to get a reigning Finals MVP and one of the league’s premier two-way wings entering his prime for pennies on the dollar. The Warriors had a seat at that table and stood up.
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I don’t believe the real story here is that the Warriors missed on a star. It’s that their internal grade on Jaylen Brown sits noticeably below the market’s. Philadelphia looked at the exact same player and saw a co-star worth building around while Golden State looked at him and saw a question mark. Everyone can’t be right, and that gap in evaluation is the actual headline. Is the rest of the league overvaluing Brown, or are the Warriors the one team seeing something everyone else is missing? That’s the question worth sitting with, more than any grade on the trade itself.
Steve Kerr has known Jaylen Brown for years, even driving him to Oracle Arena when Brown played his one season at Cal alongside Kerr’s son Nick. This wasn’t a stranger they were projecting from afar. I’d bet the Warriors knew him better than almost any organization could. Passing on stars is part of the job and every front office has a list of players it didn’t believe in. But passing on a star without an obvious answer waiting behind door number two is where the fanbase’s anxiety starts. So what is the actual plan? If Jaylen Brown wasn’t the bridge from the Curry era to whatever comes next, who is? Right now nobody in that building has given Dub Nation a name.
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Every front office gets remembered for the players it acquires AND for the ones they decided weren’t worth the price. The Warriors just made one of those bets. Time will decide whether they protected the future, or passed on it.
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