Celtics Keep Title Hopes Alive By Holding Onto Jaylen Brown, White Amid NBA Rumors
The Boston Celtics front office had a busy night Wednesday, not only focusing its attention on the 2025 NBA Draft, but also fielding calls from teams interesting in trading for Jaylen Brown and Derrick White.
Brett Siegel of Clutch Points reported that the Toronto Raptors expressed interest in White. At the same time, Preston Byers reported an aggressive attempt by the Jazz to acquire Brown that likely would have included their first-round pick.
While deals were likely appealing given Boston's desire to shed payroll and get more comfortably under the second luxury tax threshold, the team's earlier wheelings and dealings, which saw them trade both Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holliday, meant they did not have to give up their two remaining stars.
In the process of retaining Brown and White, the team retained their playoff hopes for the 2025-26 season.
The Eastern Conference is turmoil following an NBA postseason that saw stars Damian Lillard, Tyrese Halliburton, and Boston's own Jayson Tatum go down with torn Achilles tendons. Those injuries will have lasting impacts on their respective teams, with all three likely to miss all of next season.
It opens the door for other teams to make postseason and NBA title pushes but in the case of the Celtics, their ability to hold onto two of their stars means they will have a shot in a conference that looks like it is Cleveland and New York, then everyone else.
Brown is a legitimate star and the league's highest-paid player for a reason. He averaged 22.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and shot 46.3 percent from the floor a season ago. He drives the ball and is a great defender but above all, he is a team leader, someone the Celtics can lean on in the absence of Tatum.
White is a workhorse for Boston, playing 33.9 minutes, scoring 16.4 per game, shooting 44.2 from the floor, and adding 4.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists a season ago.
That nucleus, if healthy, should be enough to keep Boston in the playoff discussion, even if that means scratching and clawing through the Play-In Tournament.
Brown and White have proven capable of carrying the load before, amassing an 8-2 record for the Celtics when Tatum did not play in 2024-25.
Without those two players, the team essentially punts on the upcoming season while waiting for Tatum to return and Wednesday's first-round draft pick, 19-year-old Spanish guard, Hugo Gonzalez, to get up to speed.
