NBA Teams Drafting in Top 10 Reportedly Making Trade Offers for Celtics' Brown, White
After the Boston Celtics agreed to trade Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday, opposing teams are reportedly trying to convince the C's to keep making moves with other key players.
On Wednesday's episode of First Take, ESPN's Brian Windhorst said that multiple teams picking in the top 10 of the 2025 NBA draft have been making offers to the Celtics for Jaylen Brown and Derrick White.
Windhorst added he is "highly skeptical" Boston would trade Brown, but did note the front office might be planning something because of how much talent they have already lost:
"First off, understand when they signed Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to these contracts they knew they were heading for an onerous situation. It wasn't like they did it in the dark. They knew there was going to be a day that came where they wouldn't be able to have this roster at this expense.
"This is the big question: In 2026 does it make sense to run an NBA team where you have two players to make over $150 million? Because that's where those guys are. In this era of aprons. In this era where you need depth. Does it make sense to have two players with that much money tied up in them? I don't know the answer. The league is changing right now. The league is trying to figure it out. This is what I think the Celtics are figuring out."
In the span of about 15 hours between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon, the Celtics agreed to trade Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers and Porziņģis to the Atlanta Hawks.
It wasn't a surprise to see the Celtics move on from some of the big contracts on their books for next season. ESPN's Bobby Marks noted they lowered their financial commitments by $260 million after those two trades.
The Celtics are still on track to have the highest payroll in the league next season. Even with the current state of the Eastern Conference, their title odds have taken a hit given the players they have already traded and the possibility of Jayson Tatum being out until the 2026-27 season recovering from a torn Achilles.
This raises the question of whether Boston's new ownership group, which still needs final approval from the board of governors before it can take over, wants to have such a large financial investment in a roster that may not be a championship contender.
On the other side of the equation, it wouldn't endear the group led by Bill Chisholm to Celtics fans if it came in and immediately broke up the remaining members of a team that won a title 12 months ago.
There's no indication the Celtics are actively looking to deal Brown or White, but it would also be foolish for president of basketball operations Brad Stevens to dismiss any offers that might come along if they might bring back a lot of value.
Both White and Brown could be under contract through the 2028-29 season. Brown's deal is fully guaranteed for $236.2 million the next four seasons. White is owed $91 million over the next three seasons with a $34.8 million player option for 2028-29.
