Jaylen Brown Trade Rumors Denied by Jazz's Austin Ainge amid Celtics Buzz
Utah Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge denied trade rumors connecting his team to Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown.
ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel recently connected Utah and Brown.
There's certainly interest in Brown around the league, but that doesn't seem to be reciprocated by Boston at this juncture.
During an appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show Tuesday, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that "there are multiple teams that have significant interest for Jaylen Brown."
However, Charania added that Boston would "prefer not to trade" Brown or guard Derrick White.
ESPN's Brian Windhorst, on Wednesday's edition of First Take, doesn't think the Celtics would trade Brown. He did leave the door open, though.
"I'm highly skeptical that they would trade him," Windhorst said in part (h/t RealGM Wiretap). "However, some of their actions make me wonder."
The Celtics reportedly dealt both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis in recent trades.
Brown, who will turn 29 years old on Oct. 24, averaged 22.2 points on 46.3 percent shooting, 5.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game last season. He's played nine NBA seasons, all with the Celtics, who selected the ex-Cal star with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft.
Brown's obviously been an invaluable member of a successful franchise that's made the Eastern Conference Finals six times since his rookie season, won the East in 2022 and 2024 and earned the franchise's 18th NBA title last year. He won both Eastern Conference Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP awards during Boston's title run.
Currently, Brown is on a supermax deal of five years and $303.7 million that goes through the 2028-29 season.
Erich Richter of the New York Post explained the situation Boston finds itself in, as the Celtics try to navigate a tricky salary cap future while also being without its superstar Jayson Tatum for an undetermined period of time after he suffered an Achilles tear last May.
"That Boston is even thinking of moving Brown and/or White is the harsh reality for a team that had been in the second tax apron and may be without Tatum for the entire 2025-26 season after he tore his Achilles in Game 4 of the Celtics’ second-round series loss to the Knicks.
"Boston is playing the delicate game of trying to reconfigure its roster and get below the second apron while still maintaining a championship window.
"Moving Porzingis and trading Holiday to the Blazers already helped the Celtics get under the second apron in the new, and very complicated, salary cap rules."
For now, though, it certainly appears Brown will still be a Celtic when the season starts in October, even if Boston made some moves that led to two starts on the 2023-24 title-winning team leaving town. But that also doesn't seem like a 100 percent certainty either given rumored interest around the league right now.
