Celtics Trade Rumors: Jaylen Brown Hasn't Been in 'Substantive' Kevin Durant Talks
July 15, 2022
Coming off a loss in the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics don't appear to be inclined to dramatically shake up their roster in an attempt to get over the final hurdle for a championship.
Per ESPN's Zach Lowe, the Celtics have had "no substantive talks" with the Brooklyn Nets about a deal for Kevin Durant that includes Jaylen Brown.
The Celtics haven't really been mentioned as a serious player in talks for Durant, but they could potentially make the best offer to the Nets if they wanted to get involved.
A package built around Brown, Marcus Smart and draft picks would be hard to turn down. Brown is only 25 years old, was named an All-Star during the 2020-21 season and has averaged at least 20 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in each of the past three seasons.
Smart became the first guard to win Defensive Player of the Year since Gary Payton in 1995-96 for the Seattle SuperSonics when he won the award last season.
But there's also no reason for the Celtics to try reshaping their roster at this point. They were arguably the best team in the NBA for the final three months of the 2021-22 regular season, winning 30 of their final 39 games after a 21-22 start.
Boston had the second-best defensive rating (106.9) and net rating (plus-7.5) in the NBA, per Basketball-Reference.com.
Durant remains one of the best players in the world when healthy, but he's at a point in his career when it's fair to wonder how much longer that will last. The 12-time All-Star will turn 34 on Sept. 29 and has only played in 90 regular-season games over the past three seasons.
Brown is only under contract for two more seasons, but there were times in this year's playoffs that he was Boston's best player.
The Georgia native was one of the few consistent players in the NBA Finals. He averaged 23.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists in six games against the Golden State Warriors.